But the Cat Came Back (He Just Couldn't Stay Away)
by Starvedwriteraf
Summary: Marinette is struggling after the events of Miracle Queen. Balancing her new life is hard, worrying about Hawkmoth hunting her down is harder. Adrien sees that she is sinking, but no one else seems to notice. Marinette doesn't talk to him... Maybe she'll talk to a certain cat..May become rated M in much later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Life had gotten… harder for Marinette Dupain-Cheng to say the least. To say she had too much on her plate was an understatement. Between dealing with her first real heartbreak, being Ladybug (the miraculous, masked hero who saves Paris), school and being the new guardian, she was overwhelmed. Her life had become lies, lies and more lies. "Oh, I'm just tired because I was up late sewing!" HA! She hadn't even had a new design come to her in months! "Maman, no I'm okay, I just have a lot of homework!" Did she have homework? Had she paid attention at all today? "Oh no! I got home hours ago! I just came in the back door!" She had begun to wear Kaalki's miraculous in order to make it home and to school on time, otherwise there was just no way… Oh, there's another lie 'oh, Papa! My perfect 20/20 vision is deteriorating! Can you make me an eye appointment so I don't have to walk home when my legs are clearly too tired to carry me?'

No, the real story had gone much differently, she told her parents and they leapt at the opportunity to help her, which made her feel all the more guilty. Then she had to fake poor eyesight and lie to a doctor in order to pick out eyeglasses that looked similar to the miraculous and wear that instead… only to find out that the eyeglass trend from America would seep into Europe a few months later. No one at school had really responded, though Marinette wouldn't have really noticed if they had. Alya had said something about being 'poor eyesight twins' and one of the boy, though Marinette couldn't remember if it had been Nino or Adrian, had said she looked really nice. Marinette only replied with a weak 'thank you' and had tried to remember if they had been assigned homework the night before.

She was a mess to be perfectly honest. Her perfect grades hadn't fallen though scores of low nighties were much more common. She was sinking, but not enough for anyone to really notice it'd seemed. Some days, she was grateful for the distraction. Just last Tuesday, Adrien had smiled at her in a way that physically hurt her chest. When a half-assed akuma appeared, she'd thanked Hawkmoth and said she had to pee in order to sneak away and transform. Her new priorities were also a great interruption from her quiet war with Lila Rossi. It's hard to be upset about someone else's stupid lies (and there were many) when you had to keep your own straight. Though Lila was very enthusiastic about the unrestricted access to Marinette's friends. Alya hadn't been over Marinette's in ages, which was probably safer for her as Marinette's room was a death trap. Did Marinette even still have friends? She wasn't sure. She couldn't give a miraculous to anyone but Chat Noir, that's for sure. She couldn't put any one in danger like Miracle Queen's reign again. No, no more Rena Rouge, no more Carapace. As the guardian, did her mere presence around them put them in danger? Sigh, no more Alya, no more Nino… No more anybody.

"Marinette? Have you not woken up yet? You're going to be late!" Her mother's voice almost startled her.

She didn't reply. She had been awake. She'd been awake for hours. But if she'd call down, she couldn't pretend that she had already gone. And she _would_ be late. Stay quiet. Get dressed. Use Kaalki. Make it to school on time.

"She must have already gone. I'm sure we'll see her for lunch." Her father's voice was happy. Her parents were excited to see their daughter taking her attendance so seriously now. Really Marinette had to constantly be ready for an akuma. After Hawkmoth got the last guardian to run, he knew he was after her. And he knew she was a child. If Master Fu couldn't handle him, how could she?

Marinette's style had changed too. Wayzz would sometimes get upset to get put back into the box after being worn for so long, and she had Nino at school… so her new norm had become a black turtle neck with high-waisted jeans. She also wore her hair down more often to try to relive those thirty seconds when Adrien saw her as possibly more than a friend. But today was not that day. A ponytail it was. She slipped her glasses on and sighed. "Kaalki? Are you still okay with this?" The kwami appeared and nodded sadly, "just get me some of those carrot sticks from the cafeteria and tell me which closet to go to today."

###

Marinette scribbled quickly, she had a few more minutes before class started and they had indeed had homework. She knew the stuff but boy was it annoying. And Lila's piercing laughter was really getting under her skin.

"Hey Marinette!"

Marinette looked up and responded to the boy with the best smile she could muster, "hey Adrien. How are you?"

He smiled back, "I'm good, whatchu' working on?"

Marinette's smile turned embarrassed and she went back to working on her papers, "the homework, I forgot about it last night."

Adrien looked confused at the girl, thankful she couldn't see his face. She never forgot about homework, that he could remember at least. He had hoped she was designing again. She said she was sewing but he hadn't seen her draw in ages, "do you need help?"

She laughed a weird laugh in response, almost biting, almost sarcastic, "no I'm okay. I'm almost done. Thank you though."

Adrien hummed in response and sat in his seat. Stealing another look at the girl. She hadn't been herself for a while. She stopped wearing pink as much and, as a model, he had notice concealer make an appearance under her eyes. She was hiding dark circles and bags. Her laugh hadn't been the same and her eyes hadn't been as shining and beau….. happy. He'd thought that maybe something happened between her and Luka, but Alya had confirmed that Luka was still crazy about her though Alya had no idea what Marinette thought of Luka. She hadn't been with either of them outside of school in ages. The only time, as far as he knew, that the two saw one another was when Luka visited at lunch. That was on days that Marinette didn't escape home.

Something was different. It wasn't hard to tell. He'd thought it was Lila's rumors she had started about Marinette talking badly about people behind their backs, but when asked about it Marinette knew nothing about the rumors. Adrien still made sure to stop them, but any concern about Lila's misdeeds seemed to vanish from Marinette's mind overnight. It was a strange thing indeed. Adrien thought that maybe she was scared of the possibility that she could have been exposed as Multimouse in front of Hawkmoth, but when Chat Noir paid a visit to ensure her identity was safe her response was a non-chalant, "of course it is, you silly cat." With a much more chalant, delicious batch of cookies that she snuck him from the bakery to usher him out of her window. So that night had given him a sugar high and crossed-out her fear as a possibility.

His stomach growled at the thought of the cookies and Marienette, without thinking much about it, handed him her pop tart. He took it with thanks but was confused on why, again, she didn't have a breakfast from her bakery. She always went on about how she loved to bring her family's croissants for breakfast but she hadn't brought them…. Again for ages. He missed them, and he was sure she did too,

"Marinette wh-"

"Marinette! You actually beat me here today girl! I stopped by the bakery but your parents said you'd already left." Alya sat down and pulled her things out of her bag,

"Yeah, sorry, I forgot you mentioned yesterday you wanted to walk together. I'm sorry. Maybe you can come over for lunch?"

Alya chuckled, "Jeluka was telling me that Luka is coming for lunch, so maybe we should stay here today."

Adrien watched out of the corner of his eye for any reaction from the girl, but she just flipped the page she was working on over and continued working, "I wouldn't mind a coffee though, I didn't get a chance to grab one this morning."

Alya's smile grew and she waved at her boyfriend as he walked in the classroom and sat down, "I'm sure he'd love to get you coffee, maybe all of us can go? Nino, Adrien? Would you come? Kagami too maybe?"

Adrien nodded enthusiastically, "Kagami is helping out her mother today, but I would love to come, Nino?"

Nino nodded, "yeah, Chris broke the coffee pot, so I am down for anything caffeine."

Alya laughed but Marinette only replied with a distracted "yeah, maybe" as she finished up her homework.

Mme. Bustier entered and clapped her hands, "alright guys! Let's see you reading responses!"

The students handed their papers to the front. Adrien turned to take the stack from Marinette only for her soft hands to brush against his. He looked up to meet her eyes, only to see her staring into her new, larger brown purse that sat beside her.

Adrien sighed. He had liked her pink purse much better.

###

Adrien sighed when Luka, indeed, jumped at the chance to buy Marinette a coffee. He would have liked to buy her one and maybe have a second alone with her to ask her what was really going on. Marinette was quiet on the walk over and listened to the excited chatter around her, though it did not seem like she was tuned into to anyone. He didn't understand how she could be so different and no one else could tell. Even Luka had just seemed to accept it, which he didn't understand. She was practically screaming for someone to help her and no one was. Adrien clenched his fist and said nothing.

"So what idea are you going to submit, Marinette?" Luka's voice was patient,

"Hmm?" Marinette finally turned her eyes up to look at the group.

"For the spring dance?"

Marinette closed her eyes for a second and Adrien noticed her shoulders slump, "o-oh yeah. I hadn't thought about it. As class president I take the submissions from the class, pick the top two, give them to the class to vote on, then start planning it and setting it up." The weight on Marinette's shoulders grew. She could feel it getting heavier. Another thing to do, an entire dance to plan. Decorations to design. Everything.

"Oh, you can't submit one at all?" Adrien's voice was sad. He was sure she would've had the best idea out of the entire student body.

Marinette shook her head, "I pick the top two so it could be biased, you know?"

The group nodded respectfully, it made sense. Just part of the responsibility of being class president.

The coffee shop wasn't exactly busy but the group got their table, gave their money and their orders to Nino, and got comfortable,

"girl, where is your coat, I get that it's almost spring but it's still freezing. They're telling us we could get snow tonight."

Adrien turned quickly, it was true, the girl didn't have a coat at all, but she didn't even seem to notice,

"oh, yeah, when I remembered that I had the homework to do, I kind of rushed to school, I just completely forget."

Adrien began collecting his coat to offer the girl, but Luka put his on her chair,

"I'm driving home after this so just take mine. You can get it back to me later."

Marinette's eyes dimmed slightly, "it's pretty cold, Luka, you'll need it. I'll be okay."

But the boy just shook his head. Yeah, that's right. Not his job. Luka is the boyfriend. Nino brought the coffee back over, holding Marinette's as far from him as possible, "here is the one with enough espresso to kill a man."

Marinette nodded her thanks for the coat and the coffee. Then the group heard a word that they had never heard Marinette say, "Fuck!"

Adrien patted Nino's back as he choked on his coffee and stared at the girl in shock.

She didn't even seem to know what she'd said and continued, "my parents thought I was coming home for lunch! I have to call them! I'll be right back!" She left the table, slipping on Luka's jacket as she ran outside with her phone in her hand.

Adrien watched her leave then turned to the table. Alya spoke first,

"our little baby is all grown up and cussing!"

Nino and Luka laughed while Adrien bit his lip, "don't you guys think she's been acting weird?"

Alya took a sip of her coffee, "I mean, talking badly about her friends was weird bu-"

Luka and Adrien jumped to Marinette's defense with a "She'd never do that!" and a "Lila made that up!" respectably, the boys looked at each other for a moment before Adrien looked away, "that's not what I meant anyway! I meant the forgetting her homework, the change in her coffee order, her style changing!"

Luka had a strange look in his eyes and smirked knowingly while Alya replied, "she's always been scatter-brained! It's part of the reason we love her. As for her coffee and style change. I don't know. She hasn't talked to me about it. Lila said she's probably outgrowing us."

Luka looked at her strangely, "that's not true at all, Alya. You seem really interested in this Lila though."

Alya shrugged, "she made a good point, Marinette is dating an older guy now"-Luka choked on his coffee-"I mean, there was going o be a chance she'd change."

Luka looked shyly away and said nothing. Nino spoke next, "I've known Marinette a long time. She wouldn't just drop us because of a dude. Sorry Luka" Luka put his thumb-up in a supportive gesture, "and Adrien is saying the Lila made some of this stuff up. You know she has that condition."

"Lying." Adrien said under his breath, "Marinette wouldn't do that" he agreed, "so something else has to be happening."

Alya shrugged, "she's been designing more, maybe she's working too hard."

Adrien said nothing. Designing…. She hadn't designed anything. When he went to see her as Chat Noir her sketch pad had been collecting dust, but he couldn't just say that. He sighed and pretended to drop it. Marinette then walked back in, her cheeks rosy from the cold, "they were okay."

She sighed and Luka's brow raised, "is everything okay?"

"My uncle is sick, they're going to be going to take care of him this weekend. I'm going to be running the bakery."

Luka put a hand on her shoulder, "is he okay?"

Marinette nodded, though Adrien swore he saw her shoulders slump even more, "yeah, I think so, he just needs some help with his restaurant and stuff. That's all."

Adrien bit his lip and watched her frown as the rest of the group went back to talking. Fine. Adrien couldn't talk to Marinette, Adrien couldn't figure what was going on. Adrien couldn't solve all her problems.

But maybe Chat Noir could.


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette walked beside Adrien. Halfway through their lunch break Luka had gotten a call from his mother that there were problems with the boat house. He had left and she had no idea when she was going to be able to give him his stuff back. When small snowflakes began to fall from the Parisian sky, Luka had also placed his black beanie onto her head. Now she had two of his things, important winter things, that she had to somehow make time to get back to him.

"It's okay girl, just go on a date and bring your own cot next time!" Alya winked at the girl then she turned to Nino and they continued their conversation about how Ladybug hadn't done many interviews lately.

A date? Marinette shook her head. That would be weird for Luka. And her. Considering the conversation they had. After the ice-cream get together, Luka had flat out asked Marinette on a date. Marinette froze and hadn't know how to respond. The heart break from letting Adrien go was still too fresh, and the though of her being the new guardian was really starting to sink in. She had tried her best not to break his heart, but she sat him down and kindly explained that she just wasn't ready yet. To be honest, though, she hadn't been ready for anything that was coming to her.

Marinette looked up at the sky, watching the snow that was coming down slowly. What was she going to do? This was her life now. This was the norm. She was probably going to be the guardian, and maybe Ladybug for the rest of her life. Master Fu hadn't had another career. He couldn't he had all of his research (which he so kindly bequeathed onto her) to do. So, she knew long ago to kiss fashion goodbye. Any actual designing she had tried to do hurt her heart.

"So are you going to be making any last minute snow-wear?" It was weird, to Marinette Adrien's vice sounded so hopeful,

"I'm not sure, it's kind of the end of the season, you know? I mean I'm sure your dad has already started preparing for his summer release."

Adrien smiled, she was right, bathing suits and shorts and tank tops galore, "yeah, I'm sure my dad would love to show you some of the collection! Ya know, if you'd want to come look at it?" He sounded almost shy. Alya had turned around at this, but Marinette didn't want to give her the satisfaction of acknowledging her pointed look,

"I'm not so sure…"

Marinette thought back to her most recent meeting with Gabriel, covering for Lila's sticky fingers. He hadn't given away much of how he felt about her, but Marinette was sure it wasn't any type of fondness.

Adrien gently grabbed her shoulder to stop her, "are you kidding? He loved your designs. I'm sure he'd love to have someone to actually talk shop with!"

Okay, so he was exaggerating a little. He had loved Marinette's designs and would sometimes ask if she had anything new during the rare occasions when they talked. But Adrien had saw it, for a brief second that spark was back in her eyes. She was in there. She really was.

Marinette let out a half-hearted laugh, "thanks Adrien but I'm sure he'd rather talk shop with actual designers, you know?"

Marinette began walking again and Adrien watched for a moment before joining her. Under his breath he let out a defeated, "but you _are _one…"

#

It had to have been hours. She had to have been sitting in this seat for decades. All of the lecturing and the questions. It had been a century. Marinette looked at the clock and groaned to herself—it had been fifteen minutes. She hated physics. She hated everything about it. The long explanations, the complicated math, all of the science. It was a combination of three subjects all presented at once in some complicated puff-pastry of confusion. She had become lost about ten minutes ago, and felt her brain shut down not long after that. The rest of the class was scribbling down notes obediently while hers was frozen after the first line. Even Alya's notes were detailed and neat and smart. They looked smart at least. And she made googly eyes at her boyfriend every ten seconds.

"Alright class, I'm going to go to the back to get the assignments, just in case the lecture goes long, I will be right back."

Marinette groaned and put her head down. More lecture? In case it gets _longer._ Could she quit now?

"Girl, what is wrong with you?" Alya whispered, "you've been bitching and whining since class started."

Marinette stuck her tongue out at the girl for her crude wording, but spoke, "I honestly just don't get it, I can see your notes?"

Alya nodded and slide them over, and Marinette blanched, "great they're in Greek!"

Alya smirked and chuckled, "no, Mari, that's plain French right there."

Marinette stuck her tongue out again, but began copying her notes, "but how did we get from here to here?"

Marinette pointed at the notes and looked to Alya. Alya sighed and pointed to the line above, "it's what the equation tells you to do right here."

Marinette cocked her head and sighed, "if you say so."

Alya chuckled again as Marinette copied everything down diligently. She looked back up only to see Adrien staring at Marinette with sad eyes. What had been up with that boy? He chose Kagami. If he wanted both then Alya had been dead wrong about the type of person Adrien was. She hadn't meant to put so much fire in her eyes, but, nonetheless, when Adrien looked over to her fear overtook his eyes and he faced the front quickly. Maybe that's why Marinette was acting so weird. Maybe all of these mixed signals from Adrien were hurting her. I mean it would hurt her. Alya bit her pencil as Marinette slid her paper back over to her,

"Thanks, Alya."

Alya smiled back at her, "no problem girl."

#

Tikki looked at Marinette with concern in her eyes. The girl had turned down Alya walking her home and a car ride with Adrien for Kaalki to get her home. Only for her to break out her physics homework and break down at her desk. She hadn't even taken off her coat or her hat. Tikki exchanged a look with Kaalki who had been looking at the girl the same way. Tikki had always loved Marinette, but now the other kwamis had become the same way. This was no ordinary human. Marinette had worn multiple miraculous at once and had not had an ounce of the power-hungry tendencies even some of the previous Ladybugs had shown. Marinette also took the protection of the kwamis very seriously. She ensured that each kwami was safe but that they also had time outside of the box if they had wanted it. Though Marinette was a newer guardian, she was already a good one.

Marinette even spent most nights rereading Fu's work, and continuing his research. The girl was stretched thin. She was doing more than her best and it was beginning to take a toll on her.

"Marinette, please can we help you?" Pollen whimpered to their new master.

Marinette shook her head tearfully, "no, it's okay, Pollen." She hiccupped, "I'll be alright. I just need to focus!"

Marinette wiped her tears and tore into her book with more vigor. Trying to decipher the equations, the math, anything.

"Maybe you should take a break and draw! You have that dance coming up!" Mullo rushed around Marinette excitedly.

Marinette sighed, but managed a smile for the mouse, "not today, Mullo, but thank you. We haven't chosen the theme for the dance, anyway."

Mullo nodded at the girl, then rejoined the ranks of the other kwamis on Marinette's bed.

Marinette sighed and stood from her desk, "a break sounds good. You know? Maybe no physics until later tonight…"

The other kwamis smiled excitedly, but Tikki knew her chosen. She watched in dismay as Marinette picked up the large book filled with ancient miraculous legends, and also picked up the two translation books she had. Ancient Chinese to Modern Mandarin, and Modern Mandarin to English. Marinette shrugged off Luka's coat and settled on the bed. The other kwamis sat on the bed next to Marinette and peeked over her shoulder as she began reading and translating.

One good thing to come out of all of the chaos, was that Marinette had begun to learn Chinese. It was slow and agonizing, and some days she had to give up due to a headache so bad the words were blurred. But she had learned. It helped that the Kwamis were fluent in man languages and loved to help her along. Some days she could only use one of the translations books and get away with it. Tikki was still worried about her chosen though. With school, homework, research, working in the bakery, and being Ladybug, all of Marinette's passions had been put on the backburner. Her hand had not touched a needle since before Christmas when she was finishing up some of the presents she had planned. With the thought of fashion, Tikki's mind took a turn,

"Adrien seemed really worried about you today, Marinette."

Marinette sighed and looked up at her kwami, "yeah, it was really stupid of me to forget my coat. I hadn't meant to worry anyone."

Tikki looked confused at the girl. How could she not have noticed that there was so much more than that? Watching Adrien 'choose' Kagami had really hurt Marinette, though Tikki had wasted no time telling Marinette she seemed to had made the choice for him. Marinette had gone on about how Adrien would never see her as more than a friend, and that had been it. The end of the conversation. But the boy now, boy was he interested. Tikki knew it was much more interest than just wondering what was wrong with her. Fu had admitted himself that these two were soul mates, and he didn't believe in love often.

Suddenly a smell hit her nose. Familiar and…. Mangy. Tikki's eyes widened, "everybody hide! Marinette! The books!"

It all happened so suddenly. Every kwami, either behind a book or in the box, and Marinette's books thrown under the bed in the blink of an eye. All before the giant **thud** on her patio. Marinette squinted the snow that was now coming down much harder than it was before, and the darkening sky offered no help. Marinette opened the door and stepped out. The cold wind shaking her to her vary bones. A voice cut through the snow suddenly,

"Marinette! Get back inside it's freezing out here."

Marinette knew that voice anywhere, "Chat Noir?"

His green eyes suddenly appeared in front of her gesturing for her to go back inside. She slid backed away from the door and gestured for him to follow, "what are you doing here?"  
The last time Chat Noir had come, Marinette had been way too distracted and spoke to him how Ladybug would have, how she normally would have. All of the pretending had caught up to her, and talking to him like that had felt so normal, so warm. She called him things like 'kitty' and 'silly cat'. It was dumb on her part. She broke the illusion of a lovestruck fan in an instant. He hadn't seemed suspicious, so Marinette was happy she could have something normal.

Chat Noir shook snow off of his hair and all over Marinette's bed, much to her dismay, "sorry, Marinette," he chuckled at the sight of her face, "just came for a talk."

Marinette crossed her arms, "more like a stray came for croissants."

Chat Noir smiled at the return of some of the bite in her and put his hand over his heart in fake pain, "oh! You wound me! Never I just came to see you! Do… you do have some though right?"

Marinette rolled her eyes and held up a finger, gesturing for him to wait a moment and she retreated down her trap door. Chat Noir shook off the last little bit of snow, and explored the room. It was messier since the last time he was here. Lots of papers with messy scribbles were all about the room, books, lots of books everywhere. He picked one up, it was in Chinese. He quirked a brow, but realized it was best not to snoop. He walked to her desk to sit on the chair, only to see the open physics book. He had heard her struggling with it at school. She had seemed so frustrated at first but then just seemed to give up. So unlike Marinette. He sighed. That was why he was here today. To find out what was going on.

He heard her footsteps approaching and smiled as the trapdoor opened again. Something smelled amazing. She handed him a plate of the flaky bread and he smiled,

"thank you. They smell delicious."

Marinette smiled, "no problem, sorry though, they what didn't get sold today. I hope they're not stale."

They weren't. They were the best things to cross Adrien's lips for months.

Marinette smirked at the cat hero savoring his treat, "so. You said you wanted to talk?"

Chat Noir nodded, "yeah, it's really important."

Marinette nodded for him to go on with a confused look on her face. He sighed, "are you okay, Marinette?"

Marinette looked taken aback, "y-yeah, I'm fine. Are _you _okay? Did you hit your head before you came here?"

Chat Noir laughed half-heartedly and shook his head, "I'm fine, and I have no head injuries that I know of. I just… you've seemed, different.. sadder." He caught the look of suspicion in her eyes and tried desperately to cover, "even from the last time I saw you."

Marinette crossed her arms, "has the great Chat Noir been spying on me?"

Chat Noir chuckled nervously, "no?"

Marinette shook her head, "I'm fine, cat. I've just been up late designing a lot, and really late too."

Something flashed in Chat Noir's and he lifted up a dusty sketchbook from the corner of the desk, "ah yes, I see. Just over brewing with ideas."

Marinette's cheeks got hot at being caught in her lie, "I could have another sketchbook!"  
Chat Noir deadpanned at her, "yeah? Other than the one you always use exclusively?"

Marinette stuck her tongue out at him, "so let me get this straight. Chat Noir has come into my room to criticize me?"

Chat Noir widened his eyes, "n-no! I'm sorry that's not what I meant to do at all… I just…" He ran his han through his hair, "I'm really worried, that's all. I… I don't want you to get akumaized."

Marinette's eyes softened and she walked over to her friend and kneeled by him, "Kitty, I'm not going to get akumaized. Quite frankly I would love to see Hawkmoth _try _to decipher some of the crazy that is going on up here," she gestured to her head, "I promise I'm al-"

Chat Noir suddenly took her hand, "can you talk to me about it?"

Marinette looked up at him, confused, "w-what?"

He looked at her hopeful, "some of that 'crazy'?"

Marinette looked up at him and bit her lip, "I don't know Chat… I mean you're a superhero… you can't just-"

Chat Noir looked at her with pleading eyes, "please? Please Marinette I want to help."

Marinette sighed, "you can't really fix it Chat."

Chat Noir squeezed her hand and whispered desperately, "please let me try."

Marinette let out a shaky breath. This was hard. Why did he care so much about her? It didn't make sense. But here he was, desperate to talk to her. She sighed and came up with something true she could tell him, she didn't want to lie to him, "school. School has really been a lot."  
Chat Noir looked at her incredulously, "school?"

She let go of his hand and stood. Pointing at her physics textbook, "that. I hate _that_."

It was true. She didn't understand physics. It sucked. It was her lowest grade and the biggest pain in her ass sometimes.

Chat Noir let out a laugh, "what?"

"Cataclysm it." She whispered without mercy.

Now his laugh was whole hearted, "I'm not going to do that. You need that."

Her bottom lip popped out, creating a perfect pout on her face. He put his hands up, "okay, okay, what don't you get?"

Marinette looked at him confused, "what?"

He smiled, "I'm serious, what don't you get? I'm a sort of physics master, so let me help you."

Marinette rubbed her lips together and pointed at one of the problems on the assignment, "I can't figure this one out for the life of me."

Adrien read the problem over, "yeah, this is a hard one, but I can help. Here." He picked up her book and they moved to the chaise. He pointed at an equation in the book, "this is the equation we want. Do you know why?"

Marinette shook her head and bit her lip. Chat smiled, "that's okay. See in this problem we want to know how fast the rock has to go to get into space right?"

Marinette nodded. Chat continued, "so we have the distance, the size of the rock, and we just need to know the speed, or velocity. V right?"  
Marinette nodded quickly, "and that equation has all the variables we need right?"

Chat Noir nodded enthusiastically, "exactly! Can you plug these numbers in for me?"

She nodded and began to work.

Adrien smiled. She was talking to him… well not him, Chat Noir. But he was still here with her, talking. He knew that physics wasn't everything she was dealing with. But she hadn't lied to him again. She was honest. He watched her work intently… then he noticed something. She wasn't wearing her glasses. Here she was, working very hard not squinting at anything. Not only that but… he looked around the room… they were no where to be found at all. Come to think of it…. She wasn't wearing them the last time he visited either. Why would she possibly lie about needing glasses? He tried hard to think what she had told people about them. As far as he could remember, she hadn't said anything. Alya had said something about being 'bad eyesight twins' and Nino had said something about being left out… but Marinette just hadn't said anything. She just wore them…

Marinette looked up at Chat and smiled large. Showing him her work. He smiled back nervously. Her work was perfect. He gave her a thumbs up and had her start the next problem. He looked around the rooms at the notes. Trying to decipher the scribbles without making it obvious that he was reading them. It was Chinese alright. When had Marinette learned Mandarin?

One of the greatest days of his young life was when Marinette asked her to come with her and translate for her to her uncle. It was fun, and he got to know her a lot better. It was one of the few times he got to hang out with just her… And now, as far as he knew, she wasn't hanging out with anyone. And her reaction when Alya suggested she go on a date with Luka was…. Strange.

A large collection of snow fell onto Marinette's patio and she jumped up. Book and papers all over the floor, hands in fists and eyes towards the window. It was as if she was expecting someone… nefarious to come in.

Chat Noir looked at the falling snow out of her window as his worst fears were confirmed; something horrible was happening to Marinette.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys just a note, as everyone is slightly aged up in this, they kinda all have Millennial/ Gen Z humor. I couldn't help myself, I love the idea of Marinette making anxiety jokes to make herself feel better and that whole cynical/nihilistic humor. I think it would really be the coping mechanism for people who have had the weight of Paris on them since they were so young. So as I kinda noted, I follow the what is actually cannon (AKA they got their miraculous when they were fourteen/fifteen) and figure that there have been three seasons (some with like a year between them) so they're like seventeen, eighteen now. Which I think fits the humor I am going to give them and the coping strategies. If you disagree, let me know, but there's no guarantee I'm going to change anything. Thanks for understanding.

#

Chat Noir took another bite of his cookie and blew on his hot chocolate. He hadn't planned for this, but the snow had been falling for so long and so hard that it was difficult to even see the patio. Chat sighed, it was getting late. He was lucky that tomorrow was Friday. Only one day to get through on little to no sleep. His father was away preparing for his summer release in the Bahamas and was gone indefinitely along with Nathalie. Gorilla wouldn't notice his absence. There weren't any repercussions that he could think of other than school tomorrow. But there was always coffee. He took a sip of his hot chocolate and looked up at Marinette, she was up on her bed engrossed by a book that seemed too big for the book sleeve currently covering the title. The book sleeve was for some fairytale book it seemed. The whole magic, princess scenario, but the innocent characters didn't seem to fit the size of the intimidating book. He could tell right away that this was some sort of cover up and decided to have some fun with the girl,

"So, princesses, huh?"

Marinette looked up startled, "w-what?"

Chat Noir chuckled, "your book?"

Marinette seemed to remember the book sleeve trick in that moment and perked up, "o-oh yeah. It's a really… good story."

Chat smiled deviously, "oh really? You should read me some!" He jumped up onto the bed, where Marinette closed the book quickly, "I love stories." He continued devilishly.

Marinette narrowed her eyes at him, "fine, kitty, I'll let you borrow it when I'm done. If I find any crumbs or if you spill anything in my bed, you will be sorry."

Chat Noir looked up at her with large eyes, "you wouldn't kick a cat out into the snow!"

Marinette 'hmmed' in thought, "no, but I might make you wash my bedsheets."

Chat Noir laughed triumphantly, "and what would your parents say to that?"

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "they left a few hours ago to take care of my uncle."

Adrien's heart missed a beat, but he wasn't quite sure why. He had remembered her mentioning her parents were going to be taking care of his uncle this _weekend _but hadn't thought they would leave tonight. They were alone here. He swallowed hard and pointed to the dark-haired princess on the book cover,

"hey! She looks like you!"

Marinette followed his finger and stifled a laugh, "you think I look like a thirteen-year-old princess? Gee, thanks. I know I have a baby face but-"

Chat jumped up, "no! Jeeze! I didn't mean it llike that I'm so sorry," his words began to jam together in an incoherent mess while Marinette laughed,

"then I have no idea what you meant, silly kitty."

At the familiar nickname his devilish side came out once again, "that _you_ were a princess!"

Marinette cocked an eyebrow at him, "what the actual fuck are you talking about."

Her cussing was still so unfamiliar to him but he continued anyway, "that you," he booped her nose, "my dear Marinette, are a princess, and I" he booped his own nose, "am your brave knight here to fight away all of your problems."

Marinette let out a single, disbelieving laugh, "it's like one in the morning, are you losing your mind? You're losing your mind, aren't you? I've doomed Paris because the great Chat Noir came to visit me, lost too many hours of sleep and his brain died. The end."

Chat tapped his chin a few times, "yeah, I like that, you're the princess, I'm the knight and I help you slay physics… and handwriting apparently." He reached for one of the poorly scribbled notes that were by her bed, but she snatched it away quickly,

"what a snoopy knight."

Chat Noir narrowed his eyes, "what a secretive princess."

Marinette tucked the note into the book and hopped from the bed. She sighed, "do you want to watch a movie?"

Chat wrinkled his nose at her, "don't you have school tomorrow, shouldn't you be getting to sleep?"

Marinette shrugged her shoulders, "I have a guest. I'm not going to leave you while I sleep."

Chat peeked over the bed at her, "but you must be tired, and I wasn't really invited over."

Marinette smiled softly, "I have a soft spot for strays. You know you're welcome here, kitty. I'm sure the whole family has said it before."

Chat blushed at the open invitation, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe he did. No one, that he knew of, had been invited to Marinette's in a long time. Not even Luka, but here was Marinette welcoming him here with open arms, he laughed a dark laugh, "what would your boyfriend think of that?"

Marinette turned to him with a wrinkled nose, "what are you talking about."

He realized what he had said, and how he had said it, almost bitter. He did his best to cover his words, "I just mean that a princess like you _must_ have a prince."

Marinette stared at him with disbelief Chat, "Chat, I don't have a prince, I have anxiety."

Chat laughed a disbelieving laugh. So she and Luka weren't together. So Alya was wrong, Nino was wrong… everyone was wrong. Had Luka… turned her down? Is that why she's been so sad?

"Okay, Princess, why do you have anxiety?"

Marinette kept her disbelieving look, "because at any second a friend or loved one could be akumatized into a villain that can't really control themselves?"

Chat Noir nodded his head, "yeah, that's fair."

Marinette finally smiled at him and began to dig through her movies.

"Was there a prince?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you have a prince?"

Marinette sighed, "I think we've all had one at some point you know?"

Chat Noir hopped down and sat by her, "Who was it?"

Marinette let out a single biting laugh, "don't worry about it, Chat. He had his own princess that he chose. Besides I have the bravest knight in the world right here, I want for nothing."

Chat blushed at her compliment and took the stack of movies she handed him, "jeeze, Princess, how many movies do you want to watch."

Marinette glared at him, "there for you to pick from, you dork."

Chat dropped the movies dramatically, "nope! I'm not picking you've crossed the line." He turned from her dramatically,

"because I called you a dork? You can battle ye olde demonic physics but can't handle being called a dork?"

He shook his head, "it wounds me."

She laughed. Her genuine laugh. The laugh he hadn't heard for ages. His heart jumped at the sound. This was her. He had her here now. It was all okay again. His happiness over took his arms and he hugged her in close. He laughter stopped, but he could still hear it in his head. He smiled wide, "I missed you, Princess."

She slowly hugged him back and whispered, "so this 'princess' thing is really going to stick, isn't it?"

Chat nodded into her shoulder, and she sighed, "if I make popcorn, will you pick the movie?"

He nodded quickly and released her. She smiled, "okay bring that stack and follow me."

He followed her into her kitchen, it was clean and bright and smelled like the cookies she had made him earlier… wow he was a spoiled cat. She pulled out a pan to make the popcorn in, and he began looking through the movies. All classics, she had good taste (but he knew that). He decided on Spirited Away. He showed her his choice and she smiled,

"I love that movie, all of the animation is done so beautifully." He put the rest of the movies by the television in the living room so he didn't have to leave her while she waited for the oil to heat up. He lifted himself on to the coulter beside her,

"now there's cat butt on my counter."

Chat Noir smiled, "well that's for you to deal with tomorrow."

She gently pushed her over and jokingly wiped the spot he had been sitting on, "it is tomorrow."

He laughed as she let him go, then became serious, "you really can go to bed if you want, Princess. I can watch the movie with headphones or-"

She held up her hands, "it's fine, I really do usually stay up this late anyway. It's just nice to have more company. Although your kwami has to be hungry."

He jumped at the mention of a kwami before he remembered Multimouse, "yeah but he's a picky guy, he only likes cheese."

Marinette laughed, "we have brie in the bakery fridge if he'll have that. I have to take a shower anyway." She poured the rest of the popcorn kernals into the pan, "how about I finish here, you go down and grab the brie, or see if there's something else he'd like, and we'll you guys rest, I take a shower, I'll call you upstairs when I'm done, then we start the movie?"

It was nice that she knew he needed a break from being Chat for a while. To be honest he had been worried about Plagg since he realized he was stranded, "that would be really nice. Thank you, and I'm sorry if-"

"Please don't worry about it, Chat. I mean it. It's okay."

The popcorn popped wildly, emphasizing the silence between them. Chat sighed, "you're-you're really nice, you know that?"

Marinette smiled at him, "kitty, you deserve nothing but kindness. Can you grab me that bowl, please?"

He reached on top of the cabinets and handed her the large plastic bowl. She upturned the pan into the bowl, only dropping a few pieces of popcorn onto the counter (which Chat quickly caught) and salted it. She then walked upstairs with the popcorn, the movie and some blankets while calling behind her, "don't have too much fun!"

He laughed and headed downstairs into the bakery. Even closed, it smelled delicious. Buttery and sweet and just all around warm.

He found the fridge and sighed, "claws off."

Plagg immediately appeared. Adrien braced himself for the lecture and berating he was about to get, but it never came. Instead Plagg was distractedly looking back upstairs, as if there was somewhere else he really wanted to be. Adrien opened the fridge and handed him the promised piece of brie,

"here Plagg. I'm really sorry buddy. I promise I didn't expect to get caught in the snow like this."

Plagg waved him off, still just as distracted, "it's fiiiiine, Adien. Don't worry about it!" He gulped down the cheese in one bite. He then began flying up the stairs, "if anything we should come here more often!"

Adrien's eyes widened as he watched Plagg disappear around the corner, "Plagg? Plagg! What are you doing?" He slammed the door to the fridge and chased the Kwami. What was Plagg thinking? Sure Marinette was in the shower, but that didn't mean that he was safe to explore around. And sure she's seen a kwami before but… but… Adrien slowed to a stop. It was okay. Not for Marinette to see him obviously, but to see Plagg. She'd seen a kwami before, she knew what they looked like and what they were. She maybe even… expected to see Plagg. His chest felt warm. It was comfortable and safe here. Maybe he couldn't walk around as just Adrien, but he could be Chat and he would be safe. She knew about being a hero. I mean she really saved him and Ladybug that day. Only Marinette could have come up with an idea like she did. And to just reveal herself in front of him… so utterly trusting of him like that.

He began to follow Plagg where he must have gone, Marinette's room. He went up the stairs and opened the trap door. Then he heard Marinette's voice, "I understand completely, but I was in the shower and that was not very polite, sir."

Was she, was she talking to Plagg? He could hear Plagg groan, "but I just wanted to say 'hi' and thank you for the cheese."

He heard Marinette laugh, then he heard he lay a small kiss on what he could only assume was Plagg's large trouble making head, "you're very welcome for the cheese, and it's really, really nice to see you. Now please go find Chat before he wanders in here and gets an eye full too."

Adrien felt the heat in his face, which had to mean he was the darkest shade of red he had ever been in his life. Plagg had seen Marinette naked? And what did she mean see him? Had they already met? Plagg had seen her naked?! Plagg suddenly phased through the bathroom door with the largest smile on his face, he was about to head to Marinette's bed when he saw Adrien out of the corner of his eye,

"What are _you _doing up here?" Plagg pointed an accusatory finger.

"Me?! What about you!? What makes you think you can run around someone else's house like this?"

Plagg waved him off, "you already know she's seen a kwami before! And I mean she even used me to get out of that akuma's trap! We go way back!"

Adrien looked at him in disbelief, "Plagg that wasn't that long ago."

Plagg waved him off again and sighed, "fine, let's get you transformed then, she's going to be done in there _real_ soon."

Adrien blushed again, "claws out." He said through tight lips.

He decided to close the trap door and wait on the stairs. She had said she was going to call him up when she was done, so maybe she didn't bring her clothes in with her. He somehow felt his cheeks go darker. How was that possible? He heard the door open, and he heard a playful, "here, kitty, kitty." He chuckled and opened the trap door again. Even her pajamas had changed. The whitish shirt with the pink and black flowers that he had seen before were gone and replaced with black shorts and the pink Gabriel Agrest hoodie he had gotten her (along with some sewing stuff) for her birthday. He was happy to see her wear it, but her was sad to see she was no longer wearing pajamas she had made. That was until he noticed the tiniest 'M' above her thigh. He blushed (again) and cleared his throat,

"so do I owe you an apology for my kwami's behavior?"

Marinette turned quickly, "no, not at all, why would you say that?"

Chat Noir cocked his head, was she covering for Plagg, he wanted to find out, "he stated running around all crazy like and I thought maybe he had interrupted you?"

Marinette shook her head, "no, no, you don't have anything to worry about. "

He cussed in his head, it was vague enough that she could have just been hoping not to get Plagg into trouble. She didn't deny he did anything, but she didn't lie about it either. He just sighed, "well, I'm sorry anyway, just in case."

Marinette placed the DVD into her laptop and placed it on the ground in front of a pile of blankets and pillows she had set up on the ground,

"well, are you going to sit there by the door or are you going to come watch a movie with me?"

He smiled despite himself and walked over to her, sitting on the warm 'nest' she had made. The movie started with previews, as they usually door, and Marinette handed him the popcorn bowl. Adrien stole a glance out the window. The snow was still falling in a way that was blinding. He wasn't going to be leaving yet, besides, he had heard Marinette's signature laugh, he _couldn't_ leave. He wanted to hear more of it,

"so tell me more about this prince."

Marinette gave him a look, "shhh, the movie's on."

"It's the _previews_, I think we're okay."

"The rest of the audience doesn't appreciate the talking, also turn off your cell phone."

"I'm transformed I don't have a- you're just avoiding my question aren't you"

"I don't know let's ask the audience!" She had meant it sarcastically to continue the bit, but one of the Kwami's decided it would be just hilarious to knock over a book from her book shelf. She sent a pointed glare from the direction it fell before turning back to the screen. She knew who it was, Xuppu would be getting the cheap bananas for a week. Chat looked between Marinette and the bookshelf,

"you're just not going to acknowledge that?"

"the ghosts are on your side Chat, don't question it." But Chat Noir stood to go investigate. A ghost? She was kidding right?

She groaned and stood, a little too quickly to stop him, "Chat I was kidding, I put the book up there wrong, it just fell at your favor. Which I hate."

He shook his finger though, "ah, see, I'm not supposed to have favor, I'm a black cat. Bad luck, remember?"

Marinette crossed her arms, "that's a myth, and just as many people believe they bring good luck, just like me."

He scoffed, "in which culture am I good luck?"

She looked at him seriously, without missing a beat she replied, "French. In French culture you are good luck. Paris would be no where without you."

Chat looked at her with an aching chest, "they have Ladybug."

"And Ladybug couldn't do anything that she does without you."

He sighed, "you seem to have defeated a villain pretty single-handedly."

Marinette mumble something under her breath, but sighed and spoke, "I had my good luck knight around. Now come on, the movie's starting."

It was true this time, the menu had repeated a few times already. But he, he wanted to hear her talk more. All of her words all somehow managed to be the kindest words he'd ever heard. They went in through his ears and did strange things to his chest and stomach. She smiled at his lack of reply. She took his hand and led him back to the fort she had built. She sat down and took her hand away to hand him the popcorn bowl. He nodded his thanks and grabbed a few handfuls. He didn't understand how anything that came out of any Dupain-Cheng kitchen could be so delicious and have that same warmth. Whether it was pastry, popcorn, even the pop tart she had handed to him this morning for school had that same warmth which made no sense because no one in the Dupain-Cheng family had touched it before it was a completed product but that warmth was there.

They watched the majority of the movie in silence, a few comments on the animation or how good the food looked. It was a nice break from some uncomfortable questions for Marinette and a nice break for Chat from coming up with said questions. Marinette had absolutely no idea why Chat Noir was here. He said she looked sad and hadn't exactly denied the accusation that he had been spying on her. She wondered if she had been careful enough with the other kwamis, but judging by his lack of knowledge of her being the guardian, she assumed she was safe. It was a double hit, if anyone found out she was the guardian, they would find out that she was Ladybug. Everything had become more hazardous. She had even taken to writing everything down in her diary and keeping it in the Miraculous Box (for now, just for safe keeping), in case something happened and she passed on the box to Chat and subsequentially lost all of her memories. All of her memories of Ladybug, the other kwamis, Tikki, Chat. All of them would hurt. She looked over at Chat again. He was engrossed in the movie. Why did he care? Why was he here? It wasn't like they hung out regularly, after tonight she wouldn't mind doing that, but he hadn't asked for her company like this before. It was different. It was nice.

But what was with all the concern? Did she really look that sad all the time? She tried to smile, to still be friendly to everyone… Who was he that he knew all of this about her? What did he know? He had told her everything when he first came in, but now it was fuzzy. Clouded over by her heavy eyelids. She felt them droop but she opened her eyes despite herself. If she fell asleep, she could oversleep or one of the kwamis could make themselves known again without her there to help. She fought her sleep. She was going to stay awake.

Marinette's head fell onto Chat's shoulder. His eyes widened. It was like they were on the train to London again. Her steady breathing so near his ear, and her soft hair on his neck. Everything here was just so warm. What was this warmth? He didn't understand it. Even when he was Adrien whenever he was around Marinette it was there. He'd only felt it with one other person and that was Ladybug. But this had to be different. It was some sort of mystery sensation that he couldn't describe. Another book fell from the shelf and he turned as quickly as he could without stirring the girl. He looked at the clock and groaned, of course she fell asleep, it was almost five in the morning. They would both have to be waking up soon and -he looked out the window- the snow was still coming down. It was pretty unusual for the end of February, but here the snow was nonetheless.

Adrien sighed, almost five in the morning and the weather was still horrible, how was he going to get home. He didn't want to, but he knew having to brave the storm was a possibility. He knew someone would be there to wake him up at six forty-five on the dot to wake him up for school. He would have to leave soon. He sighed and gently turned in order to lift Marinette and carry her to the bed. He carefully carried her up the steep stairs to her bed he set her down, then grabbed some of the blankets from the floor to cover her up. He closed her laptop and ensured I was plugged in, while doing the same with her phone. When he plugged her phone in it lit up to reveal several messages from her friends that she had ignored the entire time she was with him. He stared at the text from Luka as the screen went black. If Luka was her prince, why would she ignore Luka for _him_? It made no sense. He bit his lip with guilt from looking at her phone, then looked beside her on the bed. There was the book that she was hiding with the face book sleeve. His curiosity gnawed at his stomach. He reached slowly for the book and traced the outlines of the princess on the cover. He had surely snooped enough today, right?

He fought his curiosity and lifted the trap-door, "see you tomorrow, Princess." He whispered it quietly that even he could barely hear it and he left through the trap door.


	4. Chapter 4

So this will probably be the last chapter I post for this week. I'm just posting what I've had in my documents for a while now and I'll update again as soon as I can write more. Thank you all for your attention and your favorites. I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I will see you next week!

Ps. For any one who is triggered by any cynical/depression jokes, there is one in this chapter. If that is the case skip the next three lines of dialogue after Adrien asks "so what are you going to do tonight?" I'll try to put trigger warnings onto the chapters where there are darker jokes, but I feel like I need to vocalize this, in this story Marinette is depressed/ And a lot of young people (me included) deal with their depression and anxiety with humor. I know it triggers some people and you are not the people I am talking about at ALL in this next statement, but do not make someone feel bad for their coping mechanisms that don't harm them. Every one deals differently. Please acknowledge that.

#

Adrien slid through his open window just as the sun had begun to rise. Although you couldn't really see it with all of the snow. He released his transformation, and held a piece of camembert up for Plagg to grab. And he did, in no time at all,

"wow, you were there for a long time," he said this quite loudly and with a mouth full of cheese, "I thought we were moving in!"

Adrien shook his head a gestured to the snow, "no it's this weather, you don't think it's an akuma do you?"

Plagg shook his head, "nope, just plain old climate change."

Adrien gave Plagg a look a spoke again, "she was so open with me, why doesn't she talk to Adrien like this?"

Plagg cackled, "what is the lover boy jealous of himself?"

Adrien turned quickly, "lover boy?! I-what- what are you even talking about?"

Plagg curled around what was left of his cheese, "you. Love. Marinette."

Adrien sat down on his bed and sighed, "no, I'm just worried about her. She's not-"

"-talking to you how she used to, laugh like she used to, yeah, yeah I heard." Plagg actually looked bothered by this. Adrien raised an eyebrow,

"Plagg, why were you so excited to see her?"

Plagg guffawed, "excited, I'm not excited to see no body! I was just-"

Adrien smirked, "-worried? Because you know she's different too?"

Plagg gritted his teeth, "fine, you want to play that way? What would Kagami think about your little trip?"

Adrien sighed. That's true, what would she think? He was so worried about Marinette he didn't think of how Kagami would feel at all. Sure, visually it was Chat Noir visiting Marinette, but he knew that it was him. He knew what he was doing wasn't great. Yes, he was coming from the right place; he was just worried about his friend. But Kagami had always been a little weird about Marinette, especially lately when he'd been telling her all of his concerns he had for her. But even Kagami agreed she was different and said she would try to talk to her. But that was months ago, and as far as he knew Kagami had done nothing. So, it was up to him, right?

Plagg smirked, "weeeeelllll?"

Adrien sighed again, "you're right, Plagg, it wasn't a great thing to do. I didn't mean anything romantically by it and, well, someone had to do something. She _needs_ someone, Plagg. And you heard it yourself tonight, it's not Alya or Luka."

Plagg looked to the floor then scarfed down the last of his cheese, "listen, kid, I know you didn't mean anything by it, but you clearly have feelings for Marinette-" he held up his hand at Adrien to stop his arguing, "-and that's not fair to Kagami. But you're right making Marinette deal with all of the gua…. I mean, um, whatever she's dealing with, isn't fair to Marinette."

Adrien sighed, "so, what do I do?"

Plagg shrugged, "you work out your feelings. I mean do you love Kagami? If that's true then you need to be there for Marinette as, truly, just a friend. If you don't love Kagami… well, you have your answer."

Adrien choked on air, "love? We've only been dating for-"

Plagg raised an eyebrow, "months?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"You knew with Ladybug instantly."

Plagg knew he was starting to hit close to home, but Adrien needed to hear this.

"That was different, Plagg, that was…. Ladybug."

"So?"

"So… so I knew it was a longshot and maybe…"

"Kid, I've been alive for thousands of years. I feel your feelings when you're Chat Noir, that was love. And I felt some of that tonight too. But it has to be your choice."

"You felt that… tonight?" Adrien pulled his lucky charm out of his pocket and stared at it. Could Plagg be talking about the warmth? No, he couldn't be. He'd been feeling that since he first met Marinette it wasn't possible.

Plagg sighed again, "you need to try to get some sleep kid. You have to be up for school in an hour."

Adrien put the lucky charm on his bedside table. He spoke one last thing to Plagg before he fell asleep,

"I don't know _what _I felt tonight."

##

Marinette woke up with a headache. So, she woke up like any other morning. Last night truly hadn't felt real. She had to confirm with Tikki a few times that it wasn't some stress dream. Xuppu had, in fact, been scolded for his antics (no matter how funny he thought they were) and the rest of the kwamis were almost uncontrollable with the excitement of meeting Chat Noir.

She got up to change and Wayzz approached her with his Miraculous, "can I come with you today, master?"

His face lit up at Marinette's "of course you can!" And lit up even more at the, "please call me Marinette!"

She slid on his bracelet and opened her closet. Noting to herself that it was another long-sleeved turtle neck day. She grabbed her dark green turtleneck and another pair of her looser fitting high-waisted jeans. She looked outside and grabbed her lace-up brown boots in order to brave the snow. She dabbed some brightening concealer under her eyes and stepped from the mirror. She threw on Kaalki's glasses and left her hair down. She slipped on her own black coat and made sure to grab Luka's, on the off chance she would see him today. She put snacks for her three tag-a-longs into her brown bag and slung it over her shoulder along with her backpack, now loaded with her homework. With her parents gone, and her homework from the night done, she realized she could run downstairs and make a quick coffee. She put it quickly together before she nodded at Kaalki.

There was an icy breeze, the sensation of falling, then the feeling of solid ground beneath her feet again. She stepped out of the janitor's closet on the first floor, and headed to the locker room. Sipping on her coffee absentmindedly. She opened the door only to hear another one of Lila's incredible stories gracing the ears of Kim and Max. Something about her saving Jagged Stone himself this time, and him complimenting her modeling prowess. She laughed to herself and placed both coats in her locker. She grabbed what she needed for English and closed her locker.

"Marinette? Don't you want to apologize to Max for what you said at lunch yesterday?"

Marinette looked up with tired eyes, "and what did I say?"

Lila put on a disappointed face and shook her head, "what you told me in the bathroom, about Max's new hair, it wasn't very nice."

Marinette brought all the kindness she had into her eyes, "Lila, I went a café with Alya, Nino, Adrien, and Luka yesterday. I wasn't here. I think maybe it could be…"

Lila's eyes held anger but she feigned guilt, knowing her mistake, "Oh! My condition! You must be right! I'm so sorry Marinette! I'm so sorry Max!"

Max smiled at Marinette, they were okay for now, and went to comfort Lila. Marinette left when she began to hear, "it's not your fault, Lila! You can't control it!"

Marinette took another sip of coffee. She was on borrowed energy today and she wasn't going to waste any of it on Lila.

She headed to Mme. Bustier's classroom to settle in early. Chloe was there early with Sabrina. Neither made eye contact with Marinette.

Things had been tense for Chloe lately. Once the story of what happened somehow leaked (Marinette bet on Lila), many people were angry at Chloe. So was Marinette to be honest, but that wasn't something she cared about as much now, to be honest. She was in charge of the miraculous, and there would be many now who were chosens no more. Chloe was just another one of those un-chosen. It was just the way it had to be now.

Marinette sat down in her seat quietly, trying to make sure she didn't interrupt their conversation with any unnecessary noise. Chloe needed Sabrina more than ever now. Marinette wouldn't get in the way of that.

"Trying to eavesdrop, Dupain-Cheng?"

Marinette looked up at the blonde staring at her and sighed, "no, sorry, I'm just really tired this morning and don't really feel like talking."

Chloe looked confused at her for a moment, "o-oh. Okay then. Carry on."

Chloe wasn't going to lie. A part of her desperately wanted Marinette to bite back, just for an ounce of normality. She should have known though. Dupain-Cheng hadn't fought back with anyone, her or that annoying Lila, in forever. It scared Chloe a little bit. Or it would if she cared about Marinette at all. Even a little bit. But Chloe didn't, nope not at all. She stole another look at the girl. Even her friend Adrien had expressed concern for Marinette, which Chloe had to admit that once he pointed it out it became so obvious. She would pick fights with Marinette only to get okays, and I'm sorrys in return. What bothered her even more, a lot of Marinette's friends didn't seem to notice… or care. She had heard Alya and Nino talking about Marinette one day saying this was all probably due to heartbreak over losing Adrien, but even Chloe could see it was a lot more than that. Chloe knew that Marinette's friends were being poisoned against her by Lila. Though Marinette hadn't lost her kindness, she wasn't getting much back in return. Chloe knew she had done a lot wrong in her life, and put herself before others many times. But just full on betraying or ignoring Sabrina if she was in a time of need, like Marinette was, was something she would never do.

Adrien walked through the door then, he smiled at Chloe, who offered a timid one back, and took his seat. He turned to Marinette, happy to see her free of any leftover homework,

"hey Marinette! How was your night?" He couldn't help it, he had to ask her, he had to know.

"It was good, how was yours?"

Okay not as much enthusiasm as he would have hoped, but it was good. He got a good instead of a 'fine', 'okay', or 'uneventful.' It was a large step up to be good. Marinette let out that cute little yawn again and took another sip of her coffee.

"Mine was good too, though, I'm jealous of you for having that." He nodded his head at her coffee.

"Oh, you can have some, here." She handed him her coffee without a second thought. He smiled at her and took a sip.

Three words came to mind as soon as he took a sip; _bitter, hot, and ew._ Fine, that last one wasn't a word but it was a good title for that experience. For a moment he forgot that she had switched her usually vanilla-hazelnut order for this espresso death trap she called coffee. Marinette's extreme coffee change had been more recent. For a few months it had been her usual with just an extra shot, which Adrien had still enjoyed. He choked this sip down and smiled at her, "thanks, that should keep me going until summer vacation."

Marinette smiled and let out a laugh, though it wasn't that genuine Marinette laugh he had gotten last night, "yeah, sorry, Adrien. I forgot; I like it a little stronger now."

He managed a smile, "no it's totally okay, I forgot too. I'm surprised that doesn't eat through the cup."

Marinette shrugged her shoulders, "eh, maybe if I added one more shot."

Adrien's eyes widened, "don't you dare."

She let out another breathy laugh and took a sip again. Adrien bit his lip as he thought of what to say next. This was definitely the most Adrien had gotten her to laugh, and he wasn't ready for it to be over so soon.

"So, what theme are you hoping the dance is going to be?" He was digging, that's for sure but that's all he had.

Without missing a beat, she replied, "minimalistic."

It took Adrien a second, but then he laughed. He laughed so hard his sides hurt. He was pretty sure he even heard Chloe let out a snort. He looked up at her, her eyes seemed to hold something at his laugh. It was happiness, even the smallest spark. There it was. He stared at her for a second, and remembered that first time he'd seen her hair down. She had been laughing that Marinette laugh and everything was warm and seemed to be sparkling. It was one of his fondest memories of the girl. He finally came too and he realized she was looking strangely at him. Oh, he had been staring for too long. She put a hand to her cheek, "do I have something on my face?"

Adrien shook his head, "no, sorry, I just hadn't laughed like that in a long time."

She smiled at him, "while I'm glad I could help."

Marinette began to look into her bag, so Adrien's eyes wandered about the room. He made eye contact with Chloe who was giving him a knowing look. He mouthed the word 'what' at her but she just smiled and looked away. It took him a second but he got it, great, another person who thought he was in love with Marinette. That was just what he needed. He was going to be bombarded with texts from Chloe tonight about this no doubt. He turned again to Marinette, Chloe be damned, she wasn't going to let this go anyway,

"so what are you going to do tonight?"

Marinette looked up from her phone at him, "it depends what the dance theme is."

Adrien cocked an eyebrow, "what does that mean?"

She looked up at him, "I can't legally tell you."

It must have been a joke, because Chloe burst out laughing, but he didn't get it. He looked at her and chuckled anyway. She smiled back at him,

"what about you, what are you doing tonight?"

Adrien knew what the real answer was, 'visiting you again as Chat Noir,' but he shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not sure yet. It all kind of depends how this weather goes."

Marinette nodded, "yeah this is weird, right, damn climate change. Bourgeois?"

Chloe looked up, "what, Dupain-Cheng?"

"please tell your father to fix climate change."

"I've been telling him for years, Dupain-Cheng."

"Good girl."

It was the strangest exchange Adrien had seen between the two. But he looked at Chloe and she was holding back laughter. He chuckled too,

"you're in a happy mood today, Marinette."

Chloe whispered to herself, but it was loud enough to be hear by the two, "woooow, he _really_ didn't get that last joke, did he?"

Marinette closed her eyes for a second, composing herself, then opened them to reply, "I had a good night last night. That's all."

Adrien smiled to himself, "are you going to have a good night again tonight?"  
She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I hope so. "

So, she was hoping for him to visit again. That familiar warmth spread through his chest. Maybe she had felt even an ounce of what he had felt last night. He bit his lip and thought about Kagami. Plagg was right. This feeling had here. He just didn't have with Kagami, which was horrible because Kagami was intelligent, skilled, amazing, and beautiful. He really had wanted to love her. But he hadn't even felt comfortable enough to kiss her yet, though she totally respected that. It sort of felt like a friendship with a different title. And he was more than happy with that; a friendship. But with Marinette… it was hard to pin-point exactly when his feelings began to form. He has always thought she was kind and smart, and she has always been beautiful. He'd always felt that warmth. But it seemed that as he began to let Ladybug go, the everyday Ladybug took her place. Did he still love Ladybug? He-He didn't know. He hadn't seen her for a while (as Hawkmoth hadn't been as active), they'd been patrolling separately for some reason. Adrien had really been hoping to ask her to go back to normal patrols.

But, in love with Marinette? It just seemed so… so…

"Wow, you really are spacey today… Do you want to go get coffee again today?"

So wonderful. Adrien nodded, "yeah, that would really be great."

Marinette dropped her eye contact, "maybe Kagami would want to come today."

Adrien bit his lip, "are you inviting Luka?"

Marinette shrugged, "I can if you want me too, I do need to give his jacket back. We can invite Nino, Alya, Jeluka and Rose this time too."

Okay, so she was inviting more people. She didn't want it to be a double date. She wasn't dating Luka anyway. He needed to make that clear; she wasn't dating Luka.

"Okay, do you want to invite them or should I?"

Marinette considered him, "I'll text Luka, Juleka and Rose if you want to take the other three."

He should've known that she'd want the one with the least face to face interaction, "I can do that no problem."

He sent the text to Kagami;

_H_ey_! I was just talking to Marinette and she had the great idea that we should all go and get some coffee for lunch! Would you like to come?_

He hit send, and waited for Alya and Nino to come in. It was still pretty early. He was sure they would still be a while.

His phone buzzed sooner than he expected it to.

_Marinette suggested that you ask me out for coffee? I mean I'd love to. What time are we meeting and where?_

Adrien wasn't sure what she meant by her first question, but her answered her others. Ensuring that he was giving out the right information. I mean a large group outing wouldn't be a great place to talk to Kagami at all. But it would be a good idea to have everyone go out and be friendly around one other, while except for the actual two sets of couples. Rose and Juleka weren't super lovey-dovey but they radiated that they were a couple.

"Rose, Juleka, and Luka are all in."

Adrien smiled at Marinette and gave her a thumbs-up.

Alya and Nino entered then with Lila. They were laughing and smiling. Alya turned to Marinette,

"girl! Lila has a great idea for the dance; Russian Ball!"

Marinette nodded, "that would be really pretty!"

Lila laughed, "yeah! I've been to several Russian balls! They're always so beautiful, and ornate. One time a prince even asked me to dance at one! I hope Mme. Bustier likes it!"

Alya cocked her brow, "oh, actually Lila, all the ideas go to Marinette. As class president, she picks the top two and we vote between them as a class."

Lila's face paled, "Marinette picks them?"

Marinette nodded and took another sip of her coffee, "yeah, that's why I'm not submitting a theme. Yours sounds really cool though. If it's one of the best two I get, I'll pick it."

Lila chewed on her lip for a second, but Adrien saw a devious look overtake her eyes, "o-oh… okay then. I bet the two you pick will be great." Lila walked away slowly and sadly at this. Marinette didn't miss the way Lila dramatically made her voice tiny.

She mumbled under her breath and Adrien could barley make it out, "oh dear kwami what fresh hell is coming?"

Adrien bit back a laugh at her tone but it was obvious that Lila was planning something now. He could only Lila didn't make a huge deal out of a dance theme.

Adrien turned to Nino in the hopes of getting them to ignore Lila's act, "oh do you guys want to get coffee with us again at lunch today? Rose, Juleka, Luka, and Kagami are coming."

Alya chewed on her lip, "maybe we should stay and hangout with Lila, she seems pretty down."

Adrien saw the hopelessness in Marinette's eyes and spoke again, "I'm just dying for a coffee though, to the point I drank some of Marinette's."

Nino looked at Alya, "I don't know, babe, that is pretty desperate. "

Alya chewed on her lip some more, "yeah, maybe. Maybe I should ask if she wants to come along?"

Marinette quietly screamed to herself and begged Adrien to handle this, "I mean, everyone that's coming is a couple, will she be okay with that?"

Alya sighed, "probably not. That wouldn't be much fun for her."

Marinette fought not to jump out of her seat to celebrate. She nodded her thanks to Adrien who smiled back at her. Though she wasn't sure why everyone thought she and Luka were dating. She had even told Alya she turned him down.

Mme. Bustier walked in, "okay everyone, English assignments to the front please. Also, I'll be passing around some paper squares, please write your ideas down for our spring dance theme!"

It was just then that Lila decided to let out a desperate sob. Most of the class turned to look at her, while Marinette just stared at the ceiling to watch the shit hit the fan.

"What's wrong, Lila, are you okay?"

She wiped convincing, though still fake tears from her eyes, "it, i-it's just, I heard Marinette talking that she would never even consider my idea."

Alya looked quickly at Marinette, "why would you do that?!"

Marinette turned quickly at her, "you literally just heard her find out I even handle this damn thing! When would I have said that I wasn't picking it? I heard her idea maybe thirty seconds ago"

Alya looked back to Lila, and shook her head, "she seems pretty hurt, Marinette."

Lila continued, "and I just don't think refusing to hear other ideas is very indicative of a good class president."

Mme. Bustier looked to Marinette, "Marinette is this true?"

Marinette composed herself, "I'm going to look at every options and pick the two best, most creative ones. If Lila's theme is one of those two, you will see it on the board later today to vote on."

Marinette's voice was somehow still even despite the lies spewing from the other girl's mouth, "but you're just not going to even look at it! It's just not fair!"

Marinette brought as much kindness into her eyes as she could, "Lila, I promise I will."

Lila shook her head, "you're lying! You shouldn't be class president!"

There was a collective silence in the room. Adrien gritted his teeth, was no one going to stop this bull shit? Even Alya, who had heard the complete exchange didn't believe Marinette.

Marinette's voice was even, "if you would like me to step down I will."

This was met with even more silence. To be honest, losing the class presidency title would not be the worst thing. Marinette wouldn't have to put together the stupid dance, or organize the end of the year party. Though it hurt to hear how many people didn't support her, it could be the best in the long run, maybe.

Chloe stood, "if she steps down, I become president, and I, for sure, won't even consider your ridiculous Russian ball idea!"

Lila was too shocked to keep up her fake tears.

Mme. Bustier spoke up, "Marinette swore to serve a term, and I will not be asking her to step down unless completely necessary. She has served this class well and has been fair and just."

Marinette nodded at her teacher, "Lila, if you would like to be class president, please run in the election at the end of the year. You could serve next year."

Lila huffed, "I just know you won't be fair because you just don't like me. For no reason."

Marinette could name a thousand reasons right this very second. She sighed, "Lila, I am going to be fair in this theme picking. If your idea is the best, it will show. If you want to announce your idea to the class now for everyone to consider you can one hundred percent do that now."

Lila huffed again, "well, Chloe kind of did it for me."

Marinette gestured to her, "you still can, officially, if you'd like."

Lila shook her head, "no, I'll submit it with everyone else's."

Marinette nodded, "okay, when you're done please raise your hand. You can put your name on your idea if you'd like, that just means if you get picked you will get the credit for it."

Marinette had spent all of that borrowed energy just from dealing with that situation. She began to collect the papers from people who raised their hands. Marinette watched Lila get up to 'sharpen her pencil out of the corner of her eye. She sighed. She knew what was going on.

She went back to the front, "okay, did I get everyone's them idea?"

Everyone nodded, even Lila. Marinette made eye contact with the girl, "now everyone is sure?" Lila nodded again.

As Marinette turned to grab her folder Lila let out another sob, "I just know she won't consider mine."

Okay, Lila wanted to play.

Marinette faked a gasp, "oh no, guys! Which one of you threw yours away?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lila stiffen.

Marinette put on a show, "Russian ball! Oh no! Lila, that was almost so bad. Don't worry, now yours will go right on top!"

The rest of the class sent smiles to Lila and words of encouragement to Lila.

Adrien watched Marinette take her seat. He eyes looked empty again, like they had yesterday. He sighed, "are you okay?"

Marinette nodded, "yeah, I'm just really going to need that other coffee."


	5. Chapter 5

I am heartbroken so there will be some references to Chat Blanc now because that shit hurted. THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SLIGHT CHAT BLANC SPOILERS.

###

Adrien had thought Marinette was joking about how badly she needed the coffee. But here she was, silent, sipping on her death brew and going through the dance submissions. Kagami had arrived a little before the group and had saved a table for them. Adrien wasn't sure why, but she was very quiet. She kept sending questioning glances Marinette's way, thought Marinette was far too preoccupied to notice anything. She hadn't even noticed the sad look on Luka's face when she returned his jacket. It also seemed to escape her that he had another coat on entirely.

Kagami finally let out a sigh and spoke, "what are those, Marinette?"

Marinette looked up from the pile of little paper squares, "they're theme submissions for our spring dance. Part of the wonderous job of class president is choosing the top two themes to vote on."

Kagami looked up at Adrien, "you guys have a dance?"

Adrien lit up, "yeah! Marinette is going to design the decorations and every one will help her set up if she needs it and- "

Marinette cut him off, giving Kagami a kind look, "it's not until the end of April."

Adrien wasn't sure why, but Kagami breathed a sigh of relief, "oh, well that's nice. I'll help you set up too, Marinette, if you need it."

Marinette smiled, "I appreciate it. I'll probably need all the help I can get."

Kagami smiled, "what themes are you leaning towards?"

Marinette bit her lip, "there are a lot of good ones, I'm just not sure- "

Alya chose this moment to speak up, "is Lila's up there?"  
Marinette bit her lip harder, and Adrien almost winced at the obvious pressure she was putting on the skin, "i-it's in the top six, definitely I just- "

Alya stood, "she was right, you didn't even consider it!"

Marinette put both her hands in front of her, "I did! I promise I did! Kim and Rose just had really good ideas too!"

"You're lying!" Alya spat out the words.

Marinette shook her head, "I promise Alya! I tried to picture the decorations for each theme and Lila's was really pretty, but Rose's… I mean Rose if I can…?" The small girl nodded and Marinette continued, "I mean, just read it!"

The piece of paper was pushed in the middle of the table, and everyone took a look. In delicate cursive were the word 'spring in bloom' with beautiful drawings of flowers around it.

"That's a really great idea, Rose!" Adrien's voice was kind, but no one could ignore the look of anger Adrien shot Alya.

Alya looked at him in surprise and bit her lip. She spoke after a few seconds, "it is a really good idea… Just Lila was so upset- "

Kagami cocked an eyebrow, "what was her theme?"  
Alya smiled wide, "Russian Ball!"

Kagami looked between Adrien and Marinette, then tested the words, "Russian ball? I mean, you're kidding right?"

Alya blanched, "what?"

Kagami crossed her arms, "what is Marinette supposed to handmake royal, glass chandeliers?"

Alya looked down, "well, I mean, it's doable in some ways…"

Kagami shook her head, "what would disappoint Lila more, her idea not being chosen because it's pretty but very hard to execute or her idea being chosen and the decorations, the entire dance, falling flat? No offense Marinette."

Marinette shook her head, "don't worry about it, the decorations are going to be underwhelming anyway."

Kagami shot her a look, but then turned back to Alya, "Rose's idea sounds gorgeous, not to mention tissue flowers are beautiful and easy to execute. And I've seen Marinette make a rose out of paper before and it was breathtaking!"

Adrien turned to Kagami, "really?"

Kagami nodded, "yeah, I was having a… rough day a few months ago, so I visited Marinette at the bakery and…"

Marinette remembered that day well. It was hard to see Kagami as upset as she was. She had outright asked Marinette if Adrien had liked her instead of Kagami. Marinette had replied honestly; Adrien showed no signs of liking her and had chosen Kagami. Them Marinette had picked out Kagami's favorite cupcake, black cherry cake with dark chocolate frosting, and made her a yellow paper rose to go on the plate to try to make the girl smile. She knew what heartbreak felt like, and if Kagami was feeling even a fraction of that then she felt sorry for her.

Marinette offered a smile to Kagami, "it's just with all of this snow, I'm sure the blooms are going to be late this year and I just thought…."

Alya crossed her arms again, "and what's the other idea."

Marinette narrowed her eyes, "something I know you'd love, but Kim isn't here right now. And I won't reveal it without his permission."

Alya let out a huff, "you're so sure I'd like it?"

Marinette nodded, "I'm pretty sure everyone will. Rose and Kim nailed this one. Alya, I would never just throw away someone's idea like that. I thought you would know that. I just loved Rose's and Kim's ideas a lot. His idea will knock your socks off, too."

Julekha smiled, "I'm going to outright be biased and vote for Rosie's idea no matter what."

Rose blushed and Marinette smiled back, "and you have my unwavering support. Rose, it really is such a great idea."

Rose blushed deeper and hid behind her girlfriend's arm. Juleka giggled and Luka spoke, "but you know, no matter whose idea gets chosen, we're going to help you out too, Mari."

Adrien's skin pricked when he heard Luka use the nickname, but he gritted his teeth, "he's right, you won't be in this alone, Marinette."

She smiled and took another sip of her coffee. He couldn't help but notice how tired she looked. And how sad. He leaned back in his seat and shot Alya another look; that look didn't escape Marinette this time. She clenched her jaw to bit back her tears. Where was all this support earlier, when Lila had attacked her in the first place? Where was all this support when Lila accused Marinette of so many other things? She chewed on her lip; she wouldn't be in this alone? She's been through almost everything alone. Chat Blanc… She couldn't be with anyone anyway. She could never tell anyone who she was Ladybug. Chat could find out and everything would fall apart. She stared down at her coffee. There were so many people around her, but none of them knew her. At least not anymore. None of them could possibly understand what she was going through. She was tired. She was too tired for all of this.

She stood and put her coat on, grabbing her folder and her coffee after doing so, "I'm going to head back to give Mme. Bustier my results and to make sure she agrees. I'll see you guys after lunch."

Before anyone could say a word, she turned and left the shop.

Adrien had wanted to follow her. But when he began to try to stand Kagami squeezed his hand harder, and quietly spoke, "she probably wants to be alone, Adrien."

Adrien sat back down and bit his lip, staring at the door clouded from the cold air hitting the warm glass. Would she really want to be alone? After that? They still had a full hour left before they would even have to think about heading back to the college. She'd wanted to get away from Alya, he knew that for sure. But to be alone, after that? That ten-minute conversation had been the most he had heard anyone defend Marinette since Lila came back to school.

He looked back up at Kagami, who was looking at him with sad eyes again. He didn't know why she looked so sad… Could she tell that he didn't love her? Was that what was hurting her? Looking at those eyes, he wished that he could have been the one for Kagami, that he could love her like she deserved to be loved. But he couldn't he had… whatever he felt for Marinette, and even if it wasn't love, even if he was too young to truly love anyone, he didn't feel that way for Kagami. He liked her; she was a great friend. Always there for him, and kind too him. Some days, she truly made some horrible stuff seem okay. But he just couldn't drag her on like this. He offered her a small smile,

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

###

Marinette sat at her desk, tipping her to-go cup around and watching the remainder of her coffee mov about the bottom. She'd never regretted doing her homework the night before, but she was so bored right now, the record had been broken. Luckily, Mm. Bustier had been off of her lunch. Marinette had given her the two top choices, then had gone over the rest with her. The best part was that Mme. Bustier had agreed with her on her picks. And she had said nothing about Lila either. So now it was a waiting game. Waiting for the rest of the class to get back from lunch. She doodled some possible flower decorations in the upper corner of her notebook. She let her hand draw absent mindedly, but before she knew it a small dress had appeared around the flowers. Marinette bit her lip as her heart hurt. It was a pretty dress, but she couldn't wear it let alone make it. She tore out the page and stood, walking the crumpled ball to the trash can. She dropped it in unceremoniously.

Adrien walked in then, with a sad look on his face. Marinette bit her lip as he sat down. She sighed and took the seat next to him. There was still fourth-five minutes left of lunch, why was he back already?

"Are you okay, Adrien?"

He looked up at her, had he been crying? He offered her a sad smile, "yeah, I'm okay I just… I- "

Suddenly the wall of windows exploded. It seemed to move in slow motion to Marinette. She acted quickly and upturned the desk, grabbing Adrien to duck behind it with her. His eyes looked panicked. He tried to look over the desk, but Marinette pulled him back down as more debris was shot their way,

"Thanks," he whispered only to receive a nonchalant and unimpressed 'don't mention it' in return. When all was quiet for a while, Marinette peaked over the desk. Her eyes widened at what she saw. A sad look appeared on her face,

"Kagami?"

Adrien stood quickly. His mouth open at the sight of the akuma victim. Finally, a harsh voice spoke,

"I'm not Kagami! I'm Oni-Chan! Lila told me what you've done, Marinette."

Adrien's eyes turned panicked. This was not good. Adrien looked over at Marinette, she wore a face of disbelief. Oni-Chan spoke again,

"I thought you were my friend, Marinette. You're going to pay."

Adrien looked between the two for a moment before Marinette spoke. Her voice started as a whisper,

"for fuck's sake. Kagami, I swear to you, whatever she said was a lie. I would never do anything to hurt you, Kagami."

Suddenly Oni-Chan tan at Marinette slamming her into a wall and pinning her to it, "I am not Kagami, I am Oni-Chan. And Hawkmoth gave me permission to do whatever I wanted to you, as long as I take down Ladybug and Chat Noir."

Adrien gasped as she lifted Marinette up and carried her out the window. Adrien ran into the nearest closet, Plagg shot out from Adrien's bag. Adrien expect some quip for being summoned during his nap time, but Plagg was all business.

Adrien nodded, "Claws out!"

###

Kagami was hurting Marinette. She was wrong. This wasn't Kagami. Kagami would never do this to her. Never. Another kick connected to Marinette's ribs and she cried out. She rolled over to her side and whimpered,

"please, what did Lila tell you I did? I promise. I would never try to hurt you."

Oni-Chan narrowed her eyes, "she told me _everything_ Marinette. How you have been seeing Adrien. How you told him to keep seeing me. How your whole class has been laughing at me behind my back. No wonder you had to tell Adrien to ask me out for coffee."

Marinette's eyes widened, "no! No, Kagami! None of that is true! He likes you! He chose _you!"_

Oni-Chan shook her head furiously, "I wouldn't have cared if he had chosen you Marinette, because you were my friend. But friends don' do that to each other."

Marinette let the tears escape, "no, Kagami, I swear to you. We are friends. I would never do that to you."

The tears fell from Oni-Chan's eyes freely, "so that day I came to you. That day I needed you. You were _laughing _at me."

Marinette's eyes widened, "no! No Kagami! I would ne- "

Marinette only had time to put up her arms to protect herself from the slice of Oni-Chan's sword. Blood flowed from her arms. She felt dizzy at the sight. More and more blood came from her arms. Marinette's vision was blurred.

"Marinette."

She knew that voice. Chat Noir.

Chat Noir landed on the roof behind Oni-Chan. All he could see was the blood. There was so much of it. Oni-Chan turned to him and he bared his teeth,

"what have you done?"

Oni-Chan narrowed her eyes, "she's horrible, Chat Noir. She deserves to be punished. I was told everything she's done to me. She's been betraying me this whole time. She was never my friend."

Chat Noir shook his head, "you have to know that you've been lied too. Marinette would- "

Chat Moir barely had time to jump out of the way as Oni-Chan attacked. He gritted his teether, where was Ladybug? He had to get Marinette out of her. She would bleed to death if no one got to her. Chat Noir tried to move around the akuma, towards Marinette, but Oni-Chan ran to him throwing him, and herself, atop the next roof.

Marinette let out a ragged breath. No one was watching her. She gritted her teeth, "Kaalki? Home, please."

The ground beneath her gave way. A chill ran up her spine. Goosebumps rose on her skin. Before she was transported to her bathtub. The white tub was quickly stained with red. And she managed a small smile to the horse kwami, "thanks. And thanks for thinking ahead."

Marinette quickly rinsed her arms under the faucet. Wincing as the water touched her cuts. She applied some anti-septic then quickly wrapped her arms with layers of gauze. She rested against the cold corner of the tub. Her breath uneven and labored. She stood finally with clenched teeth. She placed her glasses onto the sink. She turned to the kwamis who had concerned looks on their faces. She rubbed her lips together,

"Tikki, spots on!"

Chat Noir was knocked back on to the roof. Had Oni-Chan been this tough last time too? He lifted his hand to rub his shoulder, which had taken the brunt of the fall, but he noticed something on it… Blood. _Marinette's _blood. He looked around him. Bu where was Marinette? Where could she possible had done. He couldn't find a latch on the roof. He couldn't find any way that she could had gotten down. Oni-Chan then jumped beside him. She lifted her blade and brought it down. Chat Noir jumped out of the way just in time. Narrowly keeping his head. Oni-Chan growled,

"where is she? Where did you take her?"

Suddenly, a voice spoke unwavering but weak, "I didn't take her far."

Chat looked up, Ladybug. Finally, "where have you been?!"

Ladybug offered a weak smile, "sorry were you waiting long, chaton?"

Any other day, Chat Noir may have smiled. He may have even laughed. But not today. Not when he was currently sitting in a puddle of Marinette's blood.

Ladybug's yo-yo was thrown to where Oni-Chan stood. Oni-Chan jumped up onto the higher wall of the roof and looked down at the two heroes, "I guess now that you're here I can take your miraculous, then hunt down the traitor."

Ladybug gritted her teeth, her arms were screaming at her to stop, but she continued throwing her yoyo to the akuma. Chat Noir then swiped at Oni-Chan with his baton. Knocking the girl to another rooftop again. Ladybug allowed the yoyo to wrap around a beam of another roof, but pulling on it made her arms scream in pain. She knew she was on limited time and bit the bullet,

"Lucky Charm!"

Marinette bit her lip as the object fell into her hands. She fought back tears. No wouldn't this just hurt Kagami more? She held the paper rose up. It couldn't be that simple, right? I mean, if that moment had meant so much to Kagami, why would she just throw it away with a few words from Lila? Where did Kagami even see Lila? She hadn't seen the girl at the coffee shop. Ladybug bit her lip. Was it even worth a try,

"Chat Noir!"

He looked over. He understood the look in her eyes. It was time to lead the akuma into a trap. Ladybug motioned for him to come over to her. Lead the akuma right to her? What did she have planned? He swallowed his doubts and began to run back to Ladybug.

"Going somewhere, you mangy cat?" Oni-Chan followed quickly behind him. Chat Noir ran to Ladybug's side. Oni-Chan smirked at the way Ladybug was standing. She wasn't prepared for an attack at all. Her miraculous were as good as won.

Oni-Chan began to run at Ladybug, who was doing nothing to prepared for the attack. Chat Noir's eyes widened as the akuma got closer with sill no action from his partner. He lifted his baton a second too late and Oni-Chan grabbed Ladybug. He didn't understand why Ladybug still looked so calm until she lifted her Luckycharm into Oni-Chan's face,

"would your friend really betray you like you were told she did? Would she ever hurt you like that?"

Oni-Chan gasped as she reached for the paper flower, she looked up hesitantly at Ladybug who nodded. Chat Noir watched as Oni-Chan hugged the rose close with tears in her eyes and fell to her knees,

"I-I don't know."

The purple mask appeared over Oni-Chan's face; Hawkmoth was going to try to undo this. Ladybug bit her lip. Her Luckycharm was in the akuma's hands. She'd never given a Luckycharm to an akuma before. Oni-Chan shut her eyes tightly as Hawkmoth continued to speak to her. Ladybug wished she could know what he was saying.

She did the only thing she could do; she took Kagami's hand and squeezed it. After a few agonizing moments Kagami squeezed back. She bit her lips as Kagami also squeezed the paper rose,

"no. No, Hawkmoth! You're lying! Leave me alone!" Kagami squeezed Ladybug's hand harder. In her other hand the rose began to crumble, "I don't want to do this, stop making me do this."

Suddenly the lucky charm gave way, a soft pink light shone in Kagami's hand. Purple clouds formed around her as the akuma began to release her. Oni-Chan no longer sat before Ladybug, only a crying Kagami. Ladybug helped the other girl to her feet. Kagami looked at her and bit her lip, "I'm-I'm sorry."

Ladybug shook her head, "it's not your fault. It's Hawkmoth's."

Kagami held open her other palm, now empty, "I don' know where it went. I destroyed it."

Ladybug shook her head, "it did what it needed to do."

Tears began to fall from her eyes, "but how will you undo all the things I've done?"

Ladybug squeezed her hand, "windows and rooves can be fixed easily Kagami."

Kagami shook her head. Chat Noir's eyes widened as he understood. Worry overtook him and his heart slammed against his chest as Kagami spoke again, "no! Marinette! We need to fix Marinette!"

Ladybug bit her lip. Oh yeah. Well that's fucked. She sighed, "Marinette will heal, Kagami. And I know Marinette already forgave you."

Kagami looked up, "how do you know?"

Ladybug put on the best fake smirk she could, "who do you think got her out of here?"

Kagami offered a weak smile and Ladybug continued, "how about Chat Noir gets you home?"

Chat Noir shook his head, "shouldn't someone check on Marinette?"

Ladybug frowned as Kagami put her head in her hands. She gave Chat Noir a look. He gritted his teeth. He felt bad for Kagami. He really did. In fact, this was probably all his fault. But he needed to know that Marinette was okay. How could she be okay after all of that blood?

Ladybug took Kagami's hands from her face, "I'll go see Marinette. No problem!"

Chat Noir looked like he wanted to protest, but another look from Ladybug quieted him down. He lifted up Kagami and spoke, "where too, little Lady?"

###

Marinette fell into her room through her window. Her face felt hot and she felt nauseous. She shivered,

"spots off."

Tikki appeared, and quickly all of the other kwami's surrounded them. Mullo spoke first,

"Marinette! Are you okay?"  
She nodded weakly, "yeah, I just, I just need to relax a second."

Xuppu vanished into the bathroom, and Marinette heard the faucet start. Wayzz appeared from her bracelet,

"We have to get these bandages off of your arms, we need to properly clean your wounds."

Marinette nodded and stood, "what do I need to do to properly clean them?"

Wayzz began unwrapping her arms, "we need to ensure there's no debris from the rooftop in them, more antiseptic, fresh wrappings and monitor you for a fever."

Marinette nodded then turned to Tikki, "Tikki, why did the LuckyCharm… do that?"

Tikki offered the girl a shy smile, "you didn't want to fight Kagami, and your wounds wouldn't have let you anyway. I think it may have been the only solution."

Marinette nodded. Tikki had told her before that if Ladybug was ever injured it would affect her main power… she just never imagined like that. Perhaps she wouldn't have been strong enough to undo everything anyway. She felt a twinge of pain in her arms as the last of the bandage was removed. She gawked at her arms… they didn't look good… at all. Suddenly she heard her phone go off. She looked at Wayzz who nodded, she reached for her phone.

She smiled softly, "thanks, kitty."

Tikki cocked her head, "what happened?"

"It's an automated message from the school. Chat Noir told Principal Damocles that I couldn't undo the damage, they closed the school for the rest of the day."

"which means the weekend starts now! WOO!"

Marinette heard the voice coming from the bathroom and laughed at Xuppu's excitement. She watched Wayzz inspect her arms, he looked up at her with a cautious glance.

Marinette bit her lip, "what?"

Wayzz sighed, "there's a stone, I'm going to have to get it out."

Marinette nodded and braced herself. She would never have been ready for the hot pain that shot up her arm. A shriek escaped her. Suddenly, she heard running footsteps on the roof. The kwamis hid quickly and Chat Noir burst through her patio door and landed on her bed,

"Marinette! Are you okay?"

She le out a wavering breath. He looked up at her, blood coming from her arms and approached her with eyes full of concern,

"I know, that has to hurt. What made I bleed again?"

Marinette found her voice, "there was a rock I had missed. I was going to give it a proper cleaning but I…"

He nodded, "yeah. This really needs to be cleaned. Do you want help?"

A slight blush crept onto her cheeks, "well I was going to clean it in the bath…"  
Chat Noir's cheeks lit up red, "uh yeah! No place for a cat! We hate water you know."

Marinette let out a small chuckle. He smiled back,

"you know what, my Kwami needs a quick rest anyway. How about this? I get home, rest really quickly, let you patch yourself up. Then I come back over in a little bit and we spend our Friday evening together?"

Marinette nodded, "that would be great, kitty!"

Chat Noir smiled at the girl. He looked her over again. Her arms were horribly cut, he could see that her neck was bruised beneath her turtleneck. Her ribs must be bruised, and she had a small scrape on her cheek. He bit his lip and gently hugged Marinette,

"I'm so sorry, Marinette."

She gently rubbed his back, "it's not your fault, kitty."

Chat Noir shook his head, "it is. I'm sorry… I'm sorry we couldn't fix you."

Marinette shrugged in his arms, "somethings can't be helped."

Chat sat up and looked at her, "can't be helped? Marinette you just- "

She waved him off and walked to turn off the faucet that was still running, filling the bath, "I know, I got my ass kicked."

Chat Noir cocked his head, "you're absolutely kidding right."

Marinette raised her voice, "ass kicked." She elongated her 's' and turned to him.

He put a hand on his chest, "did you just _sass _me? Are we twelve?"

Marinette vanished into the bathroom, "only emotionally."

Chat Noir chuckled and followed her cautiously, "I'm going to head out, but I'll be back in an hour or so, does that give you enough time?"

Marinette nodded, "that's fine. If you get done earlier that's fine too. More movie time for us."

He laughed no, "eager, Princess?"

She laughed, "ya got me. I look forward to seeing you much more than picking rocks out of my arms."

"You flatter me." He gave her a gentle hug before hopping back to her bed then out the door.

Marinette let Tikki enter the bathroom with Wayzz then closed the door. She slowly took off her shirt. It was impossible to ignore the blooming bruises all over her abdomen. They explained why it hurt to breathe. She poked one and winced. Tikki clicked her tongue,

"Marinette! What did you expect?"

Marinette offered her a small smile, "sorry, human habit."

She finished undressing and watched as Wayzz poured some light green substance into the bath. She cocked her head,

"what's that Wayzz?"

He offered her a small smile, "it was Master Fu's recipe, he always kept some in the box. It's medicinal."

Marinette smiled and nodded and slipped into the bath.

It stung. That was the first sensation. It hurt. She couldn't figure out what felt so hot at first. The water was warm, but Xuppu was careful about the temperature, she knew that. Then it occurred to her. The potion. It had smelled so innocent. Like the water itself. But now, _now_ she truly believed it was medicinal. She felt it. After a few moments the stinging gave way to a soothing cold. She looked at her arms. The harsh edges of the cuts had dulled to a pale pink. She noticed a few more rocks in the now calmed flesh and picked them out. The sensation was more dulled than earlier, but she couldn't hide a grimace. She inspected her arms more closely; she may need stitches. She wasn't sure. She hoped Wayzz would say something if that was the case.

She finished cleaning the blood off of her and allowed the bath to drain. She braced herself on the edge of the tub and stood. It hurt. Her muscles screamed in response, but she carried on nonetheless. She happily accepted the towel Tikki offered and stepped back into her room. The cold almost shocking her at first. She too her pajamas from the bed and dressed carefully. Using extra caution while putting her arms through the sleeves. She took a couple gentle painkillers to make it through the night. Xuppu approached her excitedly,

"how did I do this time? Did I make the water come out right?"

Marinette laughed and nodded, remembering the last time he'd drawn her a bath of ice water, "it was amazing Xuppu. Thank you so much. I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

A small smirk appeared on Trixx's face, "I'm sure Chat Noir would cover for us."

A small blush appeared on Marinette's cheek, "he's just worried. I don't think we've ever had an akuma that I wasn't able to reverse. He likes to take care of akuma victims. That's all."

Kaalki spoke next, "uh-huh, and I'm actually a donkey."

Marinette shook her head, "he's just visiting to be nice. That's all. He said he's noticed I was different. I'm sure he's worried about another miraculous holder being akumatized."

It made sense. That completely made sense. Why else would Chat Noir visit her? To protect everything else. She felt a little disappointed, but she wasn't sure why. It was a perfectly reasonable and sweet reason. Apparently, Hawkmoth was back, Oni-Chan was the first akuma in a while, so Chat Noir was probably being extra cautious.

Wayzz le out a troublesome laugh, "that's not what Plagg said."

Marinette turned in surprise to the usually passive kwami, "and what did that troublemaker say?"

"Wayzz," Tikki hissed the name, "that's enough."

Everyone looked to Tikki, shocked.

"Marinette," Tikki took a breath, "Marinette… You have to stop seeing Chat Noir like this. It could… it could cause…"

The other kwamis shouted at Tiki in response. Saying things like 'he's her only true friend right now' and 'they really like each other'.

But Marinette…

Marinette pictured those icy blue eyes. The way they had stared at her that day. And hearing him call her by her name, her _real_ name. Seeing all of Paris underwater. She sighed as she felt tears prick her eyes. As much support, as much warmth, as she felt from Chat, she just couldn't risk it. She couldn't risk losing him to the akuma, losing him to Hawkmoth. She couldn't play this game. She remembered his desperate eyes. She couldn't risk him. She turned to the other kwami's, biting her lip,

"T-Tikki's right," she took a steadying breath, "you guys… you guys weren't there. Paris was… gone. The other me in that world… _I _was gone. He was all alone there. And I easily could have failed. I can't risk that. He even knew who I really was. Which means if he finds out now… all of you… you could be at risk. I can't let any of this happen."

She sighed again and sat on her chaise. Tikki patted her shoulder kindly. Tikki hadn't wanted to bring up Chat like that. A large part of her had wanted Marinette to forget Chat Blanc too. She had given up Adrien for it, and had taken up a life of isolation because of it. She was afraid that if _anyone _found out her identity, Chat Noir would be at risk. And maybe a part of her was right. But now, now she was going to have to give up Chat, too. It wasn't safe that he was visiting her like he was. Sure, Chat had come here out of his own free will to comfort Marinette. But that didn't make the danger any less. Tikki desperately wished she could remember the series of events after Adrien found out who Ladybug was. She wished she could tell Marinette so that they both could ensure it would never happen. But Tikki _couldn't_ remember, no matter how hard she tried.

Suddenly that familiar smell hit her nose. But before she could speak, there was a tap on the door. Tikki shot Marinette some sadness before she hid with the other Kwamis. Marinette looked up at the door with tearing eyes. Before she could tell her kitty to go away, the door opened,

"Princess! I brought the movie this time! I also got us coffees… but I dropped them. I mean I think I did. I don't know when. One moment they were in my hand the next… well frankly I _left _the coffee shop with them… then took out my staff to leave and… oh! They're on the roof! They're on the roof of the coffee place! I can go get them!"

A single tear left Marinette's eye, "oh, Kitty."


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys, just a reminder that this is a chapter by chapter update. And I have a way that this story is going to go, and there's a certain reason characters act the way they do if you. It will make sense if you just… wait for the next chapter. I have an outline for everything that I really worked hard on... So, please if you have a way you want this story to go, or you think you can do it better, please write one of your own stories. Do not private message me telling me things that Chat would have done or that didn't make sense for the character, (AKA a lot of people don't like what Kagami did, but Lila is a manipulator and waits for shit to go down and when people are at their weakness. Ya know because she literally worked with Hawkmoth, they have that in common) or that I just flat out can't write because that's really mean. I've planned this story out as best as I possibly could. So please stop harassing my inbox with how many things I do wrong in life, I already know. If you keep doing it, I will report you. Got it? Thanks.

And to a certain reviewer, your review came at a horrible time. I don't know if this is the same person messing with me or not. So sorry if you're not. This is truly a wrong place wrong time situation, _if _you are a different person. But literally, just like… wait for the next chapter before you type something like that. You have no idea what I'm going to write next, so maybe my plan _was _for Chat to take Marinette to the hospital but now I can't use that idea because 'it came from the review' and I strategically left out what actually happened to Kagami so that in this chapter, it's revealed. So literally just wait or write a story with your ideas instead of leaving a comment that could force me to change my outline.

If that other person wouldn't have been in my inbox, this wouldn't have bothered me. Like I said, I just don't know if this is the same person messing with me or not. So sorry if you're not.

A situation like this is literally why I've previously deleted a forty chapter, 100k+ word story, so I'm not going to tolerate it here.

###

"Princess? Are you okay? Does your arm hurt? Do we need to go somewhere?" The look on Chat Noir's face made more tears fall from Marinette's eyes.

She shook her head, "No, I told Ladybug I didn't want to go anywhere, I have to run the bakery tomorrow. I-it's just. W-we can't do this."

Chat Noir jumped down from Marinette's bed to approach her, "what-what are you talking about?"

Marinette fought back tears, "y-you can't come around here like this anymore."

Chat Noir cocked his head, what had happened, just last night she had offered him an extended welcome, what could have changed, "what's going on, Princess?"

Her shoulders slumped, "you can't call me that, Chat."

"Marinette, didn't you have fun last night?"

Marinette bit her lip, "y-yeah. We just can't."

Chat gently grabbed her shoulders, "Marinette, what is happening? You have to talk to me."

Marinette struggled to find her words and it was impossible to fight the tears, "someone could see you… Hawkmoth could see you. I just…I can't… Chat, I don't want anything to happen to you."

His heart broke at the sight of her tears. He hugged her close, "Marinette. No."

His voice was so stern that Marinette had to look to his face, "Marinette, I'm not going to let you shut me out because something could happen. I've been so careful. My dad came home sometime today, so I made sure I was even more careful sneaking out than I was yesterday. I'm careful, Marinette. I'm aware of my surroundings. I'm not about to give you a reason to stop talking to me too."

"Too? Chat… w-what."

Chat Noir rolled his eyes, but there was heat in his cheeks "we've already established I've been spying. Please don't make me admit it again."

Marinette let out a hollow, weak laugh. It made Chat's heart hurt. He held her arm's length in order to properly see her face, "Marinette, I'm not going to let you shut me out like you did your friends. There's nothing you could say. I don't know what is going on, and I would love if you could tell me, but I'm not going to let you deal with it alone, okay? I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let that happen. I can't."

He hugged her close again, "please talk to me, Princess. What is going on with you?"

More tears formed in her eyes and a desperate sob escaped her, "I can't, Chat. I can't tell you. I can't."

Chat's ears sat flat against his head, sadness in his eyes, "how can I help you?"

He got his answer when Marinette wrapped her arms tightly around him and began to sob into his chest, tucking her head under his chin. His eyes were wide for a moment, until he held her tighter. His heart aching but warm. Adrien had been hoping that Marinette would never try to shut Chat Noir out like she did the rest of her friends, but here she was breaking down and pushing him away. It hurt him in a way he could never tell her. Something had been different between he and Ladybug, and now Adrien and Marinette, Chat Noir and Marinette. It just wasn't right. Everything was going wrong.

He hugged her even tighter. Ladybug had all but shut him out. Separate patrols, less joking around during battles. He wasn't going to let that happen with Marinette. Even if he wasn't Adrien right now, he wouldn't let it. He couldn't.

"I just know something bad is going to happen to you, Chat, I know it." Her voice was small but it still made him jump,

"nothing is going to happen to me, Princess."

Marinette looked at him with so much pain in her eyes his heart broke,

"Marinette, I'm a superhero, remember? Basically indestructible."

She put a finger on his chest, "not here."

His heart, cheeky Princess, "then don't go breaking it by kicking this stray onto the street."

A small laugh escaped her lips, "I don't think I can, kitty. It's selfish of me, but I don't think I can."

He tilted her chin up, "it's not selfish, Marinette. I _want_ to help. I _want _to be here."

She hugged him hard again, and she quivered. He expected she was crying. "Silly kitty."

It was the only sound the two of them made for quite some time. They sat there, holding each other for a while. Adrien had no idea how much this girl just needed to be held. And he understood it. He needed it too. Sometimes he's just wished someone would hug him and never let go, like his mom. His mom gave some of the best hugs. Though Marinette's were starting to win him over too. He knew what being touch-starved felt like. The smallest touch on your shoulder could make you cry. Sometimes he even enjoyed modeling, on the off chance that there would be a model with him and said model could hug him for a picture. It was desperate, but it was true. He was used to not getting any affection in his house. He had to be. Even with his father being home now, he knew nothing would change. His father had always been distant. He used to remember them being happy once, but that memory was becoming distant and misty in his mind. He remembered his mother, her smile, her laugh, her smell… but anything ounce of happiness on his father's face had been erased by years of cruel words and cold stares.

He felt Marinette release a small sigh and it brought him back. He looked down and the girl in his arms, and he realized just how long he had gone without trying to make her feel better. He bit his lip and thought for a moment,

"D-do you still want me to go back to the coffee shop and get our coffee?"

Her laugh was wholehearted. She pulled away and wiped her eyes, "no, no, Kitty. It's okay. They're probably ice by now anyway. Do you want me to pay you back?"

He laughed back, "no, Princess. Your knight messed that one up."

She offered a tearing smile, "do you want a coffee? We can go downstairs and make our own."

"Oh yeah, we can do that, can't we?" He bit his lip.

She gave him a look, "have you ever made coffee before?"  
He shook his head and she smiled wider, "c'mon. I'll show you."

###

Chat Noir happily sipped his homemade drink on Marinette's chaise. Marinette had let him try every syrup and add as much of it as he'd wanted. He had unconsciously made her old drink. Her own vanilla-hazelnut concoction. She had made a strange face but she said nothing. She made her usual death brew, and he couldn't keep his mouth shut as he watched the sheer amount of espresso put into the mug. It seemed impossible for her to keep a straight face to drink it, but she did it anyway.

She bit her lip as he watched her drink, "do you want to order a pizza or something?"

Adrien chuckled. He'd never really been allowed to have pizza, "hell yeah."

She offered him a smile and grabbed her cell phone, "is plain cheese okay?"

He nodded with a smile.

He watched her climb onto her bed and begin to make the call. He looked around the room for something to do while she talked. He noticed the bathroom light was still on and got up to turn it off. He walked into the room, only to notice Marinette's glasses still on the sink. He bit his lip, was this snooping? He picked up the glasses and inspected them. The lenses were real, but they didn't seem to be any type of prescription. Eyeglasses were a trend, so that could be it… But he specifically remembered Marinette mentioning some sort of eye appointment a long time ago, before these glasses made an appearance. Marinette wouldn't…lie about needing glasses, right? That seemed a silly thing to lie about. Especially with the eyewear trend, she's a fashionista after all… or she was. He shook his head and put the glasses back where he found them.

"Fifteen minutes!"

He poked his head out of the room, "what?"

She laughed, "the pizza will be here in fifteen minutes. I ordered from right up the street, they always have cheese pizza ready."

Chat Noir nodded nervously, "o-oh, yeah. Sounds good!"

Marinette arched an eyebrow, "what are you up to, kitty?" She hopped off the bed and began to approach him,

"n-nothing! The light was on!" He stepped back to give her a proper view of the room.

She smirked at him and peeked around the doorframe, "it doesn't _seem _like you caused any trouble." She flicked off the light, "come on, I want to see what movie you brought."

He offered her a small smile and followed her back to the chaise, picking up his movie on the way, "I wasn't sure what you were going to want to watch tonight so I brought my favorite."

Marinette grabbed her coffee and held her hand out for the DVD. He handed it to her and she inspected it closely, "oh, Chat. I love this movie! _Une Vie de Chat!_ My mom used to watch this with me whenever I was sick!"

Chat offered he a smile, "that must have been nice."

Marinette nodded, "warm soup, fresh croissants, and cookies. Couldn't beat it."

She put the movie into her laptop, "do you want anything else while we wait for dinner?"

He shook his head, "no, you've been spoiling this kitty, Princess. I just need to finish this," he gestured to his drink, "I don't think coffee and pizza will go well together."

Marinette took a sip of her coffee and smirked, "coffee can go with anything if you're not a pussy."

Chat Noir jumped up and stared at her in shock. "_excuse me!? _Who taught you that word? Who taught you to curse?"

Marinette laughed hysterically, and Chat just couldn't resist continuing the joke, "no! No! You _tell _me! Who corrupted my princess!?" He began to gently tickle her sides and she laughed harder,

"t-the internet, C-Chat! T-the i-internet!"

He laughed at her desperation, "hmmm, I don't think so. Give me their name!"

She laughed harder. No coherent words were leaving her lips. Chat's cheeks hurt from smiling so wide. She kept laughing until his hands went to her stomach and she gasped in pain.

"Shit! Shit! I'm sorry, Marinette are you okay?"

She nodded slowly, clutching her stomach, "y-yeah. I'm sorry. I forgot."

Chat shook his head and kneeled in front of her, "let me see, Princess."

She bit her lip and lifted her shirt to bottom of her bra, Chat's face contorted and a gasp left his lips, "Princess, I really want to take you somewhere to get all of this looked at. Even if they just give you something for the pain."

Marinette pictured the call to her parents and the things she could say under the influence of painkillers. She bit her lip,

"n-no, Chat. I'm fine."

He shook his head, "you're not fine, Marinette. You're not fine." He gently sat next to her, "you haven't been fine in a long time."

Marinette shook her head, "w-what?"

"Marinette, for months, you've been so sad. Your smiles haven't been the same. Your laugh… nothing has been the same. "

Marinette bit her lip. She had to give Chat something, this wasn't fair to him, "I had to give up my prince."

Chat looked up at her, "what?"

"I had to give up my prince."

He gave her a disbelieving look, "it's all over a boy?"

Marinette closed her eyes and sadly laughed at herself, "no, not all of it. But it's a part of it."

Chat nodded; she was talking to him. She said herself it wasn't all of it, but again. She was talking to _him._ She chose him to talk to. This was good, "why did you have to give him up?"

Marinette but her lip, "something so horrible could have happened if I… He chose someone else anyway."

Chat furrowed his brow. Who would possibly choose anyone else over Marinette, "what do you mean something bad could happen?"

Marinette chose her words carefully, "a friend could have been hurt."

Chat nodded. Okay, vague as hell. But it was something, "did you love him?"

Marinette nodded, "I loved him with all my heart."

"But not anymore?"

Marinette but her lip, "he's with someone else now. And she really loves him. But she's already nervous about their relationship because of me." She put her hand on her stomach, "I would never ever do anything to hurt either one of them."

Chat blinked a few times. Wait a second. Was he talking about… No, no she couldn't be talking about he and Kagami… they just… but she couldn't know that… She couldn't be talking about loving him as… Adrien, could she?

He tried to get more out of her, "what was his name?"

She let out a small laugh. She was about to speak when there was a knock at the door, "that's the pizza."

She grabbed her wallet off of her desk and retreated down stairs. And out of the corner of his eye, Char Noir could've sworn he say a red streak follow her. Thought when he investigated, he found nothing. What was Marinette about to say? Chat Noir cursed in his head. He heard her talking downstairs to some sort of womanly voice, he assumed it was the pizza deliverer. Would she have told him? What would he have done if she'd said his name? His _real_ name? His chest constricted. Had Marinette truly been an option for him? It hadn't felt like it. He would have chosen her. That had to be true right? They could have been together. But who would have gotten hurt? Who had she been talking about?

Suddenly he heard her coming back up the stairs. He was still staring off when he heard the door open. He let out a chuckle and spoke, "Princess, you got the coffee. Plagg needs a rest anyway, so how about I pay you back for the pizza?"

He finally looked up at her to see her shake her head, "no it's okay, kitty. I got it. You're my guest."

Chat Noir chuckled, "I'm pretty sure I invited myself over today, Princess."

She laughed, "no, you were very much wanted."

He gave her a look, "I have to get food one of these times though, Princess."

"How about this?" She hit play on the movie's menu, "tomorrow, you bring ice cream."

Tomorrow? He liked the sound of that. He nodded.


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you guys for the support that's been coming in. I really appreciate it. I really didn't want to make this public, but the person who was messaging me wouldn't stop, and when I saw someone with a similarly worded review, I kinda freaked. Sorry. I don't mind constructive criticism. If you want to word it nicely and maybe don't ask me why I didn't do things I was maybe planning on putting in the next chapter (which I kinda was) in he chapter I just finished. So sorry if I made you guys feel ike you couldn't. Like I said that one review just seemed suspicious and came at a weird time. But that you guys for being so understanding! 3

Also, this one is LONG to make up for the shorter one yesterday. I wrote this while listening to like, an hour loop of 'In the Rain' so let the cheese commence!

###

It wasn't necessarily late. Marinette had stayed up much later. But the pizza box, and the coffee cups were empty and Chat Noir slept cuddled up to her pillow. He had given Plagg a break after the first movie, and they'd now reached the end of the second. Marinette bit her lip. It was easy to talk to Chat, too easy. She'd almost old him if her previous feelings for Adrien. Maybe Tikki had been right the first time… While Marinette had snuck away to get pizza, Tikki had come and apologized, claiming that maybe she was worrying over nothing. But, now, Marinette wasn't so sure. Ladybug had basically almost revealed in her conversation with Oni-Chan that Marinette had liked Adrien, but luckily his mind seemed to be elsewhere and he didn't seem to notice. How long would this lucky streak last? With him spying on her, it couldn't be much longer. She sighed and rolled over to the other side of the blankets where Chat was fast asleep. He was laying on his side, a pillow cuddled in his arms. He made a small, snorting sound, almost like the snore of a cat and Marinette rolled her eyes.

She poked his nose, "Kitty, you fell asleep, you should probably be getting home."

His face contorted in annoyance but he rubbed against her hand and mumbled something sleepily.

Marinette let out a quiet laugh and tried again by scratching his head, "c'mon, Kitty, you've got to go."

He scrunched up his face and slurred his sentence, "I'm not leaving you, Marinette."

She rubbed his ear, "oh, Kitty. C'mon. I have to get up early to start baking anyway."

He began to purr, but his eyes remained shut, "I'll help."

She continued to rub but laughed, "and when all my customers see Char Noir in our bakery?"

"They'll deal." His words were mumbled but serious.

Marinette laughed harder, "Kitty, you know that's not going to work."

"Then I'll stay in the back."

Marinette thought it over for a moment, then decided against it, "didn't you say your dad was home, won't he be worried."

He mumbled something about a trip to London, but it was hard to make out so Marinette didn't comment,

"Kitty, you have to get some good rest."

He curled up tighter around the pillow and the side of his face gently rested against Marinette's outer thigh. Marinette was happy his eyes were closed because she was having trouble fighting the heat in her cheeks.

He spoke again, "you're hurt, you shouldn't have to run the bakery by yourself."

Marinette bit her lip. To be honest, she had been dreading lifting the heavy bags of flour in her current state. She knew her parents didn't expect her to make everything they usually did, they had already planned income with a limited quantity of baked goods. But Marinette was worried that she wouldn't even be ale to make that amount in her current condition. A large part of her wished she'd seen a doctor, and that she'd received something for the pain that was slowly coming back. But she knew that was dangerous. She was very susceptible to pain medication, due to her size, and had issues in the past. When she'd had her wisdom teeth removed a few years ago, Tikki had told her that she'd come dangerously close to cussing out Hawkmoth in a way only Ladybug could. Tikki had to mess with Marinette's bathroom and cause the sink to break in order to distract her parents. Having Chat take her to the hospital could cause a very similar problem, and without all of the other kwamis there to back her up, it would be a problem.

Marinette sighed, "you really want to stay and help?"  
She felt him nod against her thigh. She gritted her teeth, "do you want to sleep in the bed?"

He shook his head.

"I'll set up the chaise for you."

She stood, and there was much protest from Chat. She began to stack blanket after blanket and pillow after pillow onto the pink chaise. She walked out of the room and came back, poking Chat in the nose with something wet. He jumped up in surprise,

"Hey! What the hell was that?"

She laughed darkly, "and you yell at me for cursing." She handed him a toothbrush, "c'mon. I'm not letting you slack on hygiene just because you're stuck with me. "

He took the offending object and rolled his eyes, "I'm not stuck-"

She pulled him up to his feet and he followed into her bathroom. She prepared her own toothbrush, then sat on the sink while she brushed. He began to clean his teeth as well and blushed. He'd never brushed his teeth around anyone else before. It felt strangely intimate.

"You know," her speech was muffled by the toothbrush in her mouth, "You can shower here too if you'd like. You don't have to stay in your full costume. I'm sure I could find you some PJs that fit and I'm sure I have a leftover mask from my _Phantom of the Opera_ fashion phase somewhere. It's not fair to make Plagg work all night. "

Chat Noir was taken aback, she'd been talking about danger earlier. Wasn't this dangerous? No. He guessed not. She wasn't going to look. She was so concerned of making sure no one knew he was here. She wouldn't try to figure out who he was, or peek. He knew that. He'd doubted Ladybug would be happy if she found out, but when would he see here? Not the next Patrol. Patrols were his this week. He bit his lip,

"yeah actually. That would be really nice."

She nodded, "okay. I'll see if we still have stuff from when my cousins visited, or from my old attempts at menswear." She seemed to laugh at herself for some reason.

He cocked an eyebrow, "what's so funny?"

She sit out her toothbrush, "I kinda designed today."

His hear leapt with excitement, "really? What was it?"

She laughed, "it was more a doodle if anything. I'm in charge of helping to pick the theme for my college's dance and well my friend came up with a really good idea, and it just kinda came out."

He spit as well, then began jumping up and down, "do you have it? Can I see it?"

She frowned and shook her head, "No… I was…. And then with the akuma attack."

He looked down, "oh… yeah…. Sorry."

He cursed to himself. Of course, Marinette starts to come back, and Hawkmoth decides to come back too. It just wasn't fair. He looked up at Marinette and saw he sneak her glasses into her sweatshirt pocket. She put her hair in a bun and started the shower for him,

"I'm going to grab you some more towels and some clothes, anything else you need?"

He looked around, "maybe a wash rag, please?"

She nodded, "no problem, feel free to use whatever you want in there. Rose loves to get me new body washes and shampoos and stuff for basically every holiday there is. Please help me finish some."

He laughed, Rose often got him the same thing, "you got it, thanks."

She bit her lip, "if you're willing to stay transformed for a little bit I'll ring everything and a plate of brie in."

He nodded, "sounds perfect."

Marinette exited the bathroom and began looking through the drawers in her fashion corner. She had years of birthday and Christmas gifts she'd made for Adrien and was too afraid to give him. She was sure that on year she'd made him a pair of black sweatpants. She found them after a few moments then pulled out a dark blue, unisex Jagged Stone t-shirt. The mask was harder to find. That one she'd made years ago, after her dad had got them all tickets to the _Phantom of the Opera._ All of the costumes had been so pretty that'd she'd been inspired for moths. Eventually she found it. A navy blue fake leather mask with gold embroidery. She put it on top of the clothes she'd found, then went down stairs to find the towel and the cheese. Much easier treasures to find. She headed back upstairs and into the bathroom, handing the pile of goodies to Chat Noir. He offered her a beaming smile,

"thanks, Princess. These are perfect. "

She smiled back, "the lock on the door is really simply, just twist this okay?"

He nodded and thanked her again. She waved then left. He detransformed. Plagg seemed to be in a trance, but he rested on the plate next to his cheese. Adrien began to undress,

"Are you okay, Plagg?"

He nodded, still looking at the door, "don't let her kick you out, okay?"

Adrien looked at the tiny god, confused. He sounded so sincere and so sad. What did he know? "I don't plan on it."

Adrien stepped into the shower, and began looking at all of Marinette's soaps and shampoos. She hadn't been kidding, there were a lot. Of almost any variety, there was a holiday themed peppermint scent, fruity scents, even a brown sugar. He continued to sniff around, but none of them were that exact Marinette scent he was looking for. He sighed and gave up after a while, settling on the peppermint. He heard Plagg,

"H-hey kid, I'm going to go talk to her okay?"

Adrien peeked around the shower curtain, "Plagg, are you okay?"

Plagg looked back at him, "she's really hurt, kid."

Adrien nodded, "yeah, I think she is, but she won't let me take her anywhere."

He nodded, "I know. I'll be back when you're done okay?"

Adrien closed the curtain and shrugged, "she gave me a mask, you should be okay."

Plagg phased into the shower and Adrien quickl covered up, "you mean I don't have to stay in the ring all night?"

Adrien huffed, "no! No you're good! Now get out!"

Plagg was gone in an instant. After a while, he could hear some gentle laughs from Marinette. Good job Plagg.

Adrien finished washing himself but stayed under the hot water for a few moments. How was he so comfortable here? Why was this place the only place he wanted to be? He was risking a lot staying here. Sure, his father was going on a trip tomorrow, but it was going to be short. And there was a chance he would send someone to check on him while his father was home. But he just didn't care. Something was telling him that he needed to be here, by Marinette's side. Something had been telling him that for a while now, but he couldn't figure out why. It was like some distant thought or memory that he'd dreamed, or imagined. He just couldn't figure it out. He sighed and turned off the water.

He grabbed one of the towels Marinette had given him. He began to dry his face. He continued to dry off. He found the clothes she'd picked out, and laughed. Jagged Stone had been one of the first things they had in common, other than video games. He slipped on the shirt, but as he put it on he caught something. He brought the shirt to his nose. Yes—there it was. That signature Marinette smell. When she became a famous designer, she could bottle this stuff an he'd buy it by the truck-full; light, sweet (something like cinnamon), warm. It was impossible to pin point the exact smells. And it'd become easy for him, he made a fragrance for fuck's sake. He slipped on the sweatpants, feeling the signature, embroidered 'M' by the pocket. He looked in the mirror. His hair looked to much like Adrien's. He messed it up with the towel then played with it until it became Chat-like. All that was left was the mask, he lifted it off of the counter. It was beautiful, and Marinette had said it was from her early years. He traced the gold embroidery. She was gifted. It was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. He slipped it on. He hung his towels to dry, then stepped out back into her room.

Marinette was on the chaise; she was laying her stomach, feet in the air, eyes droopy, listening to Plagg tell her some story. Did Plagg tell stories? He walked over and sat by her feet,

"Are you trying to steal my Kwami?"

Marinette laughed sleepily, "no, he's just telling me the _real_ reason dinosaurs are extinct."

Adrien looked at Plagg with wide-eyes, "what?"

Plagg tugged on a hair that'd fallen loose from her bun, "this one had some stories of her own too!"

Adrien looked at her curiously, but she snorted a laugh, "ah, yes, you've figured it out. It was me, the seventeen-year old from France, not the 'God of all Destruction' that sunk Atlantis."

Plagg put up both his hands, "accident."

Marinette laughed. She crossed her arms and laid on them, "I was kidding that time."

Plagg stuck out his tongue then, to Adrien's surprise, he settled in on Marinette's head,

"Plagg, that is so rude, stop it."

Marinette spoke softly, "no it's okay. You should keep those pants, by the way, they look really nice on you."

He blushed softly, "falling in love with me already, Princess?"

Her voice was stern, "fine, I'll keep them."

He kneeled down on the floor, so his face was by hers, "I'd like the first option back please."

She opened a sleepy eye and gave him a small smile, "fine. Last chance, Kitty."

He gently poked her cheek, "you're in my bed though."

She let out an irritated moan and closed her eyes again, "but I made it so comfy."

His finger stayed on her cheek, it was so soft, "if you give me a blanket, I'll sleep here on the floor."

She sighed, "no, it's okay, I'll get up." He waited. She spoke again, "any second now."

Adrien bit his lip, "sore?"

She furrowed her brows, "a bit."

He moved his finger from her cheek to her shoulder and gently rubbed it, "do you want help,"

She gently moved Plagg from her head to the top of the chaise without him waking, then sat up and held out her hand, "yes please."

He grinned wickedly, and from the floor, he put an arm under her knees, then stood and put one behind her back, gently lifting her.

He felt the heat from her face through his shirt and smiled, she'd made him blush too many times tonight, it was her turn anyway. He walked up the steep stairs. He used his foot to pull the covers down, and laid her gently in the bed. Then covered her back up and jokingly tucked her in, slightly tickling her feet.

She squinted her eyes at him, "you're trouble."

He booped her nose, "you're a princess."

She reached for her phone, "I have to set an alarm for pretty early tomorrow, are you sure you want to stay and help?"

He nodded and sat on the bed next to her, "I'm sure."

He hit the button to activate her phone and her face instantly fell, "what's wrong?"

Marinette bit her lip, "it seems that Lila got to more people while I was… indisposed."

"What?"

She shook her head, "oh, sorry. Lila is the one that told Kagami, Oni-Chan, all those lies. She got to more of my friends."

Marinette bit her lip, "it's all about this stupid dance theme thing. She found out that I was in charge of it and just… well she told people I met with her and told her that her idea was stupid. And my friend believes her."

Chat shook his head, "that's absolutely ridiculous."

Marinette shrugged, "that's teenagers, I guess."

Chat snorted "okay, Grandma."

She gently pushed his shoulder, "I just mean, whatever, you know? If my friends want to believe her, there's nothing I can do… I just can't deal with it."

Chat bit his lip, "then let me."

Marinette cocked an eyebrow, "what?"

"Let me deal with it."

Marinette gave him a look, "what are you going to do, threaten a civilian?"

Chat sat up, "that 'civilian' told a lie that almost got you killed."

Marinette bit her lip, "that's not going to stop her from doing stuff, Chat. She's… she's threatened me before."

His eyes narrowed, "what?"

Marinette just sighed, "she said she was going to do this, I didn't let her lie like she wanted and she said she was going to take all of my friends from me. And I mean, at this point… just… one of my really good friends was awful today, Chat. If that's what I'm losing, I may not have the energy to care."

Chat was shocked at this. He'd never thought he'd hear Marinette say she didn't care about something. All of the Lila stuff, losing her 'prince,' losing her friends, and was there still more? He was starting to understand her changing. She had too much on her plate to possibly stay the happy Marinette. He took one of her hands,

"I'm going to find a way to take care of this Lila thing for you, okay Princess? I promise."

He kissed her hand,

Marinette felt a blush on her cheeks. Chat was going to take care of Lila? How? Her throat was too dry to ask. He looked at her with his civilian eyes beneath the mask. They were so familiar, and so warm. His lips were soft against the back of her hand. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was so thankful that he didn't have his sensitive cat ears to hear it. He gave her a soft smile,

"go ahead and set the alarm Marinette, and take another pain pill, okay? I'll see you in the morning."

Marinette turned her eyes to her bedside table, sure enough, the pain pills and a glass of water were there. She bit her lip as Chat released her hand. She reached for the pills and took two. Watching Chat settle in on her Chaise. Her chest swelled with something she didn't understand. This was something different. She blushed and looked down at her phone. She set the alarm, the took her glasses out of her pocket and set it on her bed side table as well. She flicked off the light. The moon offered some light in her room, she could see the outline of Chat Noir, laying on the chaise. She watched him, the way the light was on his face, his hair. He was beautiful. He was… here. He was real. He wasn't going to let her push him out. She wasn't sure how long she watched him. But eventually her heartbeat slowed, and she closed her eyes.

###

The alarm went off way too early in both Marinette's and Adrien's opinions. Though as Adrien sat up and saw Marinette stretching, he had to admit, it'd been the best sleep of his life. He watched Marinette look around her bed for a moment, seemingly confused. As if she was looking for someone. She stood slowly; pain evident on her face. She took a pill still sleepily looking around. She began to climb down the stairs. Suddenly she made eye contact with him, shock then relief crossed her features,

"Good morning, kitty. How did you sleep?"

He smiled and sat up, "good, how about you? How do you feel?"

She bit her lip, "I'm a little sore. And I have to change my bandages."

He stood quickly, "I'll help, c'mon let's go."

She followed him into her bathroom. He smiled at her, and she offered a weak one back as she rolled up her sleeves. The bandage was still hidden under a part of the sleeve. She sighed, "can you go into the top drawer of my dresser and grab me a tank top, please Chat?" He nodded and quickly did as he was asked. Grabbing the first white tank top he saw. He handed it to her and she motioned for him to turn around. He did as he was told. He heard Marinette set her sweatshirt on the counter and turned. The bruising was worse than he thought. Her arms, her neck, he could even see some purple through her shirt. He bit his lip,

"do you want ice?"

Marinette shook her head as she removed the rest of the bandage, "no, we're going to have a lot of work to do soon, kitty."

As the bandages fell to the ground, Chat breathed a sigh of relief. He gently took her arms into his hands and inspected them, "these look so much better, Princess. What did you use?"

Marinette bit her lip, "a bath, some ibuprofen, antiseptic, you know, the usual."

He looked the cuts over again and smiled, "they look so much better."

Marinette grabbed the antiseptic and a cotton ball, gently patting the areas of the cuts, before she grabbed the box of large bandaids, she took about eight out, four for each arm, and began unwrapping them. Chat gave her a strange look,

"they're not bleeding anymore, so I don't want to put more gauze on them, also, baking is hard with gauze."

Chat reached up and grabbed the roll, "then you wrap your arms and make me bake."

Marinette shook her head and began applying the bandaids, "it'll be fine Chat. If they bleed again, I'll wrap, okay?"

He considered her then sighed, "fine, but I'm going to be a pain in your ass about it."

She laughed, "I'm going to get my clothes and get dressed. Do you want clothes or do you want to transform?"  
Chat smiled, "thanks, but I'll transform. Can't risk getting flour on any of your designs."

She rolled her eyes and left the bathroom. She grabbed some black jogger sweatpants and light blue, boxy pocket tee. She grabbed a new bra and new underwear. She walked back to the bathroom,

"alright, kitty, out!"

He complied and decided it was time to wake Plagg. He walked over to the sleeping kwami and poked him until he woke up,

"now I know Marinette wouldn't wake me up like that! Leave me alone, kid, it's still dark out."

Adrien continued to poke at him, "we're helping Marinette out today, remember. You want her to have to do all that herself right now?"

Plagg sighed and floated up, yawning, "fine, condemn me to the ring."

Adrien laughed, "claws out."

He felt the electricity of his powers and stretched. He looked back at the chaise and decided to remake the blankets.

Marinette emerged from the bathroom and Chat's eyes went wide. The way the blue shirt brought out her eyes stunned him. She had some concealer on her neck to cover her bruise and she threw on a black, zip-up hoodie to cover her arms. She put her hair in a ponytail and smiled at him,

"you ready to work, kitty?"

He nodded in silence.

She smiled bigger, "don't worry, kitty. With my parents gone, we're only making croissants, pain au chocolat, maybe some coffee, and a few flavors of macaron. We'll be okay. Some of the dough has been resting since they left so all we have to do is knead it and bake it."

Chat was finally able to regain his composure, "that shouldn't be too bad."

She nodded, "have you ever baked before."

He shook his head, "this is a first for me."

She bit her lip, "well, thank you for staying to help me. I really appreciate it."

He nodded, "now come on! Show me the ropes."

Chat Noir had expected Marinette to make him do a lot more, but all she really asked was for him to handle the heavy stuff, prep the coffee machines, and put things up and get things down from the shelves she would have to reach for. She did teach him things. She explained everything she was doing, and let him knead the croissant dough, and let him add a layer off butter and flatten it in. She even shared her secret passionfruit macaron recipe with him, and she'd let him stick is *clean* finger into the passion fruit cream, which he _greatly _appreciated. The macarons were his favorite, so he was thankful that she shared her secrets. Though he wasn't sure he'd want them made by anyone else. He helped her put the bakes into the ovens. Then she vanished up front for a while. He heard her clicking on lights and starting to take chairs down, then he heard his name, called through what sounded like clenched teeth. He hurried out only to see her clutching her side. Ah, the chairs had been a little too much weight. He smiled at her, "I got this princess."

"thanks, Chat. I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "don't be, I got this."

She smiled at him, and went behind the counted. He was thankful that the blinds were still drawn in the bakery. He wasn't at risk of anyone seeing him. He pulled the last chair down and turned to find Marinette. Only to find he girl behind him, presenting him with a mug full of coffee. He smiled,

"thanks, Princess."

"Thank _you_, kitty."

He took a seat at one of the tables, and she soon joined him with a cup of coffee of her own. He braced his nose for the smell of her deathbrew, but was met with something pleasant. He looked into the cup,

"what's that?"

She smiled, "you got to screw around last night, so it was my turn. Do you want to try some?"

He gritted his teeth, scared, but if she was experimenting again he wanted to encourage her,

"yeah, sure."

She slid the cup over to him, and he took a sip.

A rich chocolate flavor hit his tongue, followed but deep cinnamon and toffee. The mixture was frothy and smooth on his tongue. He slid his coffee to her,

"well, this is mine now. You can have this one. I have a new favorite."

She laughed and took a sip of his, "I actually used to drink this all the time."

He swallowed more of the coffee she'd made, "really?" He feigned ignorance the best he could.

She nodded, "yeah, I always thought that combination kinda tasted like ice cream."

He smiled, "I kinda got that when I drank it too."

And he had. The first time he drank her coffee he was brought back to having rich, vanilla ice cream in the kitchen with his mother late at night. It was such a long time ago that he was surprised anything could bring it back. There was something about her coffee that filled him with warmth. No matter how tired he was, that warmth was enough to get him through the day.

"You gonna come back to me kitty?"

He smiled wide at Marinette, "sorry. I just think I found a new favorite with this one." He swished what little coffee he had left in his mug around.

She smiled, "do you want another one?"

He shook his head, "no, not yet. Thanks though. What time do we have to open anyway?"

She looked at the clock on the wall, "we have about another hour, but everything is baking. There's not much we can do."

He nodded, "do you want me to check the cookies?"

She shook her head while taking another sip of coffee and took a timer out of her apron pocket. She swallowed then spoke, "we have another five minutes."

He laid his head on his hand, "you have this down to a science, don't you?"

She laughed, "I've been baking for a long time, kitty."

He groaned, "you keep calling me 'kitty' when am I going to get the name knight?"

She reached over and played with his cat ear, "when you trade these in for a sword."

He fought not to purr at the contact, but when she scratched the hair around the ear, he had no choice. The deep rumbling escaped his throat. He was expecting Marinette to tease him, but she just kept scratching. His eyes drifted closed and he leaned into her hand. She continued to pet him until the shrill beeps of the timer went off, startling them both.

Marinette smiled and retreated to the back. Chat collected their mugs, and followed. Dropping the his empty one into the sink, and carrying hers in his hand. He walked by the first couple ovens and joined her by her side as she put the pink-orange cookies onto a cooling rack. She went from oven to oven. She pulled the large sheet pan of the pain au chacolat next. Putting them on the counter but leaving them on the pan to cool. She took the macaron cream out of the fridge to allow it to reach room temperature again. She bit her lip and looked around, finally settling down on the wooden stool. He smiled and brought her coffee to her,

"did you run out of things to do for now?"  
She nodded, "thank you. But yeah, the register is set up, most everything is cooling and the croissants will be out in a minute or two, so they should be cooled by the time we open."

Adrien cocked his head, "isn't hot the best time to eat croissants?"

Marinette shook her head, "no, if you let the cool, the butter can go back into each layer. That's what makes them melt in your mouth."

Chat Noir drooled at the thought of the Dupain-Cheng croissants. Marinette was right, they do always melt in his mouth. She took another sip of her coffee and rested her head in her hands.

Chat Noir watched the girl for a while, "what would you and your family usually be doing right now?"

Marinette narrowed her eyes in thought, "Papa and I would probably be messing with some recipes."

Chat Noir cocked his head, "do you want to do that?"

Marinette offered him a dazzling smile, "I already did, and I found Chat Noir's new favorite coffee, remember?"

He laughed, yes she had, "I'll admit, Princess, you have coffee skills."

She smiled at him, but he continued, "and design skills, and baking skills, and sewing skill, and cat taming skills. You're just amazing. You know that?'

Marinette blushed, "I-I don't know about that, Chat."

He sat on the stool next to her, and took her hand, "don't sell yourself short Marinette. You're probably the most amazing person I've ever met."

They stared at one another for a moment. Both of their hearts swelled with something unknown. Both felt as though this was where they were supposed to be. Marinette squeezed Chat's hand a little tighter; green eyes meeting blue. Time seemed to slow. In another world, thunder clapped, though snow fell outside. Both of their lungs were out of air, but neither could da take a breath, until the oven dinged.

Chat Noir let go of Marinette's hand, mostly out of surprise. And she hid her bushing face as she went to collect the croissants. Marinette set the pan next to the pain au chocolat to cool. Then felt the macarons, they were cooled,

"D-do you want to help me fill these?"

Chat Noir nodded his head, accepting the piping bag she handed him as she grabbed another one. Filling that one with the cream as well. She carefully demonstrated and explained how to fill each one with the cream. She took on the task of the large, decorative macaron that would sit at the front of the display shelf. He watched her work, the way her teeth bit her lip in concentration. Or the way she rubbed her lips together when she was trying to figure out what to do next. The pencil eraser between her teeth as she thought of her next design. The way her face utterly relaxed when she slept…

"Chat, you have to frost those."

Chat sat up in surprise and realized he'd been holding the same macaron, "sorry, Princess. I'm a little spacey today."

She offered a cautious smile, "well, I made you get up early today."

He chuckled and continued to work.

The rest of the macarons went by quickly. Marinette had put him in charge of sliding the full trays into the display case, as bending at the waist still kind of hurt. He smiled at her millionth 'thank you' and waved her off, "it's the least I can do, Princess."

Marinette smiled and began to lift the blinds, while Chat Noir hid around the corner.

He peeked around and watched her work, "so what do you want me to do now?"

She laughed, "that's up to you. You can hang in the back, you can go upstairs and watch movies on my laptop." She swallowed hard, "you can go home, if you'd like."

He was about to speak, when Marinette opened the blind on the door. They both froze.

Standing out side in the snow. Looking sad and guilty.

Kagami.


	8. Chapter 8

So I wrote basically this entire chapter, then lost it so that's great. Sorry this took so long. It was a long chapter to begin with, and now I have to rewrite it. To the reviewer that apologized, no, you're absolutely okay, I just didn't know if you were the same person who had been messaging me. You're obviously not so you are 100% okay! Sorry about that!

###

Chat Noir knew well enough to hide in the back. He gritted his teeth. Kagami looked so sad. Was it the guilt… Or…? Was it his fault? Was it because of what he-

He heard the jingle of the door opening then heard Marinette's voice,

"Kagami? Are you okay? It's cold out here, come on in."

Kagami replied, "no, no Marinette. I don't deserve our forgiveness. I really hurt you, Marinette."

He couldn't see Marinette's face, but he knew she was biting her lip, "Kagami, no I'm fine. I mean, I'm up and I'm working today."

Kagami looked around, "are.. are you _alone _here today?"

Marinette didn't want to lie to Kagami, "m-my parents are taking care of my uncle this weekend, so I'm in charge of the bakery."

That was completely honest. Marinette smiled to herself, she loved it when she wasn't forced to lie,

"Do you want me to help you this weekend?"  
Shit.

Marinette thought up an excuse, "no, it's okay, Kagami. I'm only staying open until we're sold out today, and our regulars already know the situation. I'll be okay."

Kagami looked at her shoes, "oh, okay. I'll let you work then."

Marinette bit her lip, "I still have some time. Here have a seat."

Kagami sat down and began to speak, "I'm really sorry I believed that girl yesterday, Marinette. I should've known it was a lie… I just.. Adrien had just… and she told me something, and it was just so much easier to believe."  
Marinette placed a fresh hot chocolate in front of Kagami and sat across from her, "Kagami, what happened? Are you okay?"  
Kagami shook her head, "it's just, Lila told me that you and Adrien were actually dating and… I…. then she told me that you two were doing all this stuff to make fun of me… it just made sense at the time…"

Marinette took one of the girl's hands, "Kagami, no. Adrien really likes you. He chose yo-"

"He broke up with me."

"What?"  
Chat Noir bit his lip. He didn't need to hear this part. He turned to find the stairs, but in his haste he knocked a cooling rack off the table.

Kagami was up in a minute, she took a broom in her hand, "I think you have an intruder."

Marinette stood and quickly put herself between the door to the back and Kagami, "n-no! There's no way! It has to be…. It has to be the stray cat!"

Kagami pulled a face, "you let a stray cat run amuck in your bakery?"

Marinette panicked and shook her head quickly. She huffed and decided to enunciate her words in an attempt to reach Chat, "no! No, of course not! He usually stays _upstairs or in my room!_ He never comes down. I mean unless he wants to be _attacked by a broomstick._ I'll go get him upstairs though! You just drink your hot chocolate! I'll be right back!"

Kagami arched an eyebrow, but sat back down with nothing to say. Marinette retreated to the back. She whispered her next words,

"Kitty! Where are you?"  
Chat Noir popped out from behind a stool with pleading eyes, "I'm sorry."

Marinette smiled and shook her head, "it's okay kitty. But another noise and she may come back here. You might have to stay upstairs."

Chat Noir's bottom lip jutted out, "but it's so boring without you."  
Marinette bit her lip, "maybe… maybe you should go home for now, kitty. Kagami won't take you being here lightly…"

Chat Noir sighed. He didn't like it, but she was right. He needed to go home and appear in bed to keep up appearances. She'd said she would be done by lunch… A wicked grin spread across his face, "I do owe my princess and ice cream, don't I?"

Marinette smiled back, "silly kitty. No-"

"I'll be back at lunch time with the best ice cream you've ever had, okay?"

Marinette raised a brow but kept her smile, "ice cream for lunch?"

Chat Noir bent down and kissed her hand, snatching a left over macaron from the table, "and cookies for desert."

He began sliding out the back door, "see you soon, Princess."

Marinette rolled her eyes, "see you soon, my silly kitty."

She stared after him for a few moments, wishing he didn't have to go, before she left and sat across from Kagami again. She collected herself, happy that the blush had gone from her cheeks,

"sorry about that. That silly kitty knocked over something. But I got him out."

"Cats in the bakery isn't a great practice."

Marinette smiled, "it was an accident. Usually he stays in my room." She almost blushed again before she remembered, "but we were talking about you, Kagami, what happened?"

Kagami sighed, "it was amicable, I suppose… But it did still hurt. After the coffee shop.. Adrien said he wanted to go for a walk… he got to talking and he said that he liked us better as friends. I agreed, and watched him start to walk back to your college… but then Lila… she… and then I…. Oh, I'm so sorry."

Marinette shook her head, "Lila caught you at a horrible time, and she lied to you. I don't blame you at all Kagami… I hope you know now that I wouldn't do that to you…"

Kagami nodded, "I always knew, a part of me just wanted it to be true… I wanted him to have another reason to break up with me than he just didn't love me… I just…"

Marinette bit her lip, "do you want me to talk to him?"  
Kagami shook her head ferociously, "no! No! Not at all. A… a part of me knew. I mean you had to suggest he ask me to the coffee shop… we hadn't gone on a date… in months… A part of me knew we were better off as friends."

Marinette wasn't sure what to say to make her friend feel better, "if you want you can cut in front of me in the 'get back at Lila' line'"

Kagami laughed, "I may take you up on that." She took a sip of her hot chocolate, "this is very good by the way, thank you."

Marinette smiled and nodded.

There was a comfortable silence between the two for a while, listening to the cold wind that shook the windows every once and a while. Marinette felt the bruises on her begin to ache already, and her heart ached for the girl across from her. It was hard to believe that Adrien just broke up with her. He had seemed so excited to invite her for coffee. It didn't make sense to her.

"I… I obviously don't mean right now… but if you and Adrien start to… date I wouldn't be mad at you, you know."  
Marinette looked taken aback, "what?"  
"Please don't ask him out, like tomorrow, or anything like that… but eventually… I'm not going to be mad at you."  
Marinette bit her lip, "I… I don't really want to date right now… I don't think… Adrien at least."

Kagami almost spit out her hot chocolate, "there's someone else?!"

Her excitement shocked Marinette, "I-I don't know… I just… Adrien is a friend right now. And I like that. You know?"  
Kagami nodded but bit her lip, "he's been really worried about you, you know?"

Marinette let out an empty laugh as she thought about her college friends, and Kagami's eyebrows shot to her forehead, "Marinette?"

Marinette shook her head, "I've just been more of a loner lately. A lot of people are inclined to believe Lila."

Kagami looked down, "while I'm sorry I did."

Marinette shook her head, "she went after you while you were hurting, and I will never forgive her for that, but my friends just believe her. They just believe her over me. That's… harder to forget."

Kagami nodded.

Marinette hated to admit it, but that conversation had taken her back. Back to how she felt before last night. Empty. Alone. Tired. She had put everything she had for today, every ounce of energy, into trying to cheer Kagami up. She was a husk again.

Kagami took the finishing sip of her hot chocolate, "thanks… for cheering me up today. And I am really sorry about yesterday."

Marinette shook her head, "please don't let it bother you anymore. I don't blame you at all."

Kagami nodded and looked down at her shoes, "I hate to do this, but I have to go. My mother will be expecting me… and…"

Marinette offered the best smile she could, "it's really okay."

Kagami pulled out her wallet but Marinette put her hands up, "it's on the house. Just keep warm."

Marinette cleaned up the mug and waved goodbye as Kagami left the bakery. She let her hand drop heavily to her side as soon as the door shut.

###

It hadn't been a busy day, by any means. In fact, it hadn't even been a full day. It wasn't even noon yet. But still, Marinette sat on a stool in the bakery completely defeated. She'd cleaned everything she'd needed to clean, and prepared everything for the next day that she'd needed to prepare. She was done. Tikki popped on her shoulder, Wayzz not far behind,

"are you okay, Marinette?"

Marinette nodded, "I'm just… tired… and sore… I want to go back to bed."

Wayzz looked at Tikki with concerned eyes then turned back to Marinette, "you absolutely can if you want. We'll wake you up if anything happens."

Marinette nodded again, and began the tedious task of dragging herself back to her room. She ached everywhere. The stairs seemed like an impossible task, but she began anyway. Every step seemed to rob her muscles of energy. She opened the trap door, threw off her jacket, climbed the steep steps to her bed, then collapsed on top of the covers.

She closed her eyes and drifted off for what seemed like only short moments. Then she closed her eyes forcefully and tried to ignore the concerned whispers of the kwamis. Kaalki and Trixx sat on the bookshelf talking in what they thought were quiet voices,

"but she was so happy this morning!"

Kaalki's snorted her next words, "it's because that cat was around!"

"if you think I'm above throwing a pillow, you're sadly mistaken, I love you g-" Marinette opened her eyes, but the kwamis were gone. In fact, all of them were gone, and the sun was much lower in the sky and hidden behind grey clouds. She was about to call out for them when a stay cat answered for her,

"well it's nice to hear you love me but… woah it's dark in here." She felt a new weight on her bed as he dropped from the sky light, "were you… were you sleeping?"  
Mariette bit her lip an flicked on the lamp on her bedside table, "I-I guess I did. I don't remember falling asleep."

The room lit up, and Marinette could clearly see Chat Noir's excited face, and an ice cream cone in each hand,

"well, that's okay! I'm here to bring you a sugar rush!" He handed her a large pink cone, "I couldn't find Andre! But that's okay! I know strawberry is your favorite!"  
Marinette took the ice cream but gave the hero a look, "how?"

Chat blanched as he sat on the bed, "what?"  
"How did you know it was my favorite?"  
Oops. Chat's mind raged as he tried to think of a reason Chat Noir would know Marinette's favorite ice cream. Adrien knew because it's what she always got at ice-cream shoppes, and because Alya told him Marinette always had a pint of it in her freezer. Why would Chat Noir know? She hadn't had ice cream in a while, probably because it's been so cold. The last time her saw her have ice cream was probably… the day most of the class went and got ice cream from Andre. That seemed so long ago now.

"H-how did the day go at the bakery?"

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "don't try to change the subject!"

Chat booped her nose, "don't avoid the question!"

Marinette took a small lick of her ice cream, "if anyone's avoiding a question… the bakery was fine."

Chat stared at the girl. Why did she drop it so quickly? He was thankful, but it went against the recent spukiness he'd been seeing in the girl. He took a closer look at her; there were bags under her eyes again, a certain loss of spark, even the rose in her cheeks seemed to have faded.

"What happened?"  
Mariette shrugged her shoulders, "nothing, why?"

Chat Noir put a gentle hand on her shoulder, "you're gone again."

Marinette shook her head, "I'm right here. What flavor did you get?"

Chat Noir moved his hand under her chin, unaware of their closeness, "no you're not. Come back."

Marinette couldn't meet his eyes. She let out a small sigh, "I'm okay, Chat… I just… HEY!"  
As she was speaking, Chat Noir had leaned over and taken a bite of her ice cream.

She looked at him as his head fell to the bed, "what kid of moron _bites_ ice cream?! Are you okay?"

He held up a finger, "I have some major brain freeze, give me a sec."

Mariette desperately looked around for a kwami, hoping that someone else had witnessed the madness with no avail. She was disappointed but thankful for their hiding abilities. She began rubbing Chat Noir's head, "I don't know if you know this, but ice cream is cold, very few people can bite ice cream."  
Chat Noir continued to keep his head on the bed, "I saw an actress do it on some talk show, it made everyone laugh."

Marinette smiled to herself. He'd done this just to make her laugh? Chat Noir turned his head to peek at her, "it kinda worked, you're smiling."

She scratched his head and rubbed her lips together, "well now you owe me some ice cream."

She leaned forward and sank her teeth into the chilly dessert. Her eyes widened and chills ran up her spine. Her head fell to the bed next to Chat,

"oh, Princess, _no._"

###

Marinette crunched on her waffle cone. She wasn't sure how Chat knew it was her favorite, and she decided against asking again. She watched him carefully as he finished his chocolate peanut butter concoction. He'd torn into his ice cream as if it had been the only thing he'd eaten all day,

"do you know how long you were asleep for?"  
Marinette looked into his eyes at the question, then shrugged, "I'm not sure. I finished up around eleven thirty…" she looked around her room for her clock, "I'm not sure what time it is now."

"It's almost three thirty. So, you got a nice little nap in. Did we stay up to late last night?"  
Marinette shook her head, not wanting Chat to think that she wanted him to leave earlier tonight, "no I do that kind of thing all the time."

He looked at her with sad eyes, "then what made you so tired?"

Marinette bit her lip. _Well, Chat, none of my friends have any faith in me and they all think I'm the monster Lila says I am. On top of that, I've been charged with a duty that puts the fate of Paris, if not the world, in my clumsy hands. Oh, also, the boy I once loved is single now, but he dumped my friend. Also, if I date him, you get hurt. Also, I might really like you. But I don't know what that will do to you, and I really would rather not see Chat Blanc again. Also, I have a magic box filled with tiny gods under my bed. Also, I want coffee. Also, I want to cry. Also, I really liked your ice cream and I wanted more but you ate it._ "Just a lot of running around with customers."

Chat bit his lip, "was it that bad? Should I have stayed?"

Marinette shook her head, "no, Kagami would have eventually come after you thinking you were a stray cat that got into the bakery."

"But I _am_ a stray cat that got into your bakery."

"Shh-" Marinette put her hand over his mouth, "don't say shit like that, it's bad for business."

Chat chuckled, but it was muffled by her hand. She removed it so he could speak, "oh, I'll tell La Fourchette! I'll even take pictures."

"Are-are you going to selfie in the bakery and tell them I let a cat in?"

Chat Noir gasped, "no! That would be a misuse of my power! I can't do that! You'd take the picture."

Marinette put her head in her hand, "I..I'm not going to take a picture of you for that."

"Oh, then, yeah, it would have to be a selfie."  
Marinette moved her hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. What was her kitty doing here? Why did he keep coming back?

"I… I don't know if I will every be able to tell you just how much these visits mean to me, kitty."

Chat Noir bit his lip. He nervously put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed, "likewise, Princess."

Marinette laid her head on his shoulder. Chat was hopeful that she couldn't hear the way his heart sped up.

She liked his visits. She liked them a lot. She liked _him._ At least a little bit. Chat gritted his teeth. Why couldn't he have asked her out as Adrien? Why didn't he know that she could be this sassy, amazing, absolutely beautiful girl? Why had he been so oblivious? Had she liked him as Adrien? Even a little? What did Kagami say to her? Did they both hate Adrien now? A large part of him wished he'd stuck around and eavesdropped like Plagg told him he should've done. But he could tell the kwami had been tired and needed a break. And he'd been right, his dad did send a servant into his room to remind him of his responsibilities while his father was on his next trip. He had a least two press conferences where he would be asked all kinds of fashion questions he either didn't know the answer to, or couldn't answer due to his father's upcoming release. So, it was wise that he'd gone home to organize himself. But a part of him, a large part of him, wished he'd stay in the back of the bakery. Just near her. Even if she couldn't come visit him. He'd come back as soon as he could. As soon as it was safe. And he wished it'd been much sooner. Even for those few hours they were apart, he'd missed her. And he felt like she missed him. The smell of her hair was clouding his mind, and he felt totally at ease.

The only thing that brought him back, was her handing him her waffle cone, "would you want to finish this for me, please?"

He took it with his other hand so he could continue to hold her, "sure. You really don't want it?"

She shook her head, and he ate it with vigor. He regretted not having any lunch. He knew Marinette would offer him some sort of sustenance so, it was only a matter of time and how long it would take for his stomach to growl. The cone was gone almost as soon as she handed it to him.

He felt the girl sigh under his arm, he booped her nose with his now empty hand, "whatcha thinking about?"

"Do you remember my prince?"  
Chat nodded and tickled her sides, "obviously not by name, you won't tell me."

She laughed for a moment before biting her lip, "well… he just broke up with his girlfriend."


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you for all the support. I am so sorry for the delay. I hope you all enjoy!

###

Adrien's heart beat erratically in his ears. His breath quickened and he fought had not to blush, though he didn't know if he was successful or not.

He swallowed hard, "o-oh, t-that girl that was here earlier."

His heart leapt at her next words, "yeah. Yeah that was her."

His fingers itched to touch her cheek. She liked him, she loved him? It was too good to be true, right?

It had to be. I mea-

"She was really sad."

Oh. Yeah. He had been so caught up in Marinette… he'd forgotten that he'd become single by breaking up with someone… really amazing. He bit his lip.

"Is she going to be okay?"  
Marinette nodded, "of course. She's just hurt right now. I think it was the only reason that Lila got to her like she did. She was confused."  
Chat Noir shook his head, "but how could she believe that you'd hurt her like that."

Marinette bit her lip and blushed, "she knew, hell everyone knew, I liked her ex-boyfriend a lot. Before they'd started dating. I guess she believed that I'd broken them up."

Kagami… knew? _Everyone _knew? A subtle anger built up in him, all the times that Kagami had tried to keep him from Marinette…. Was because she knew he liked him? He had been really worried about Marinette and it seemed that everyone was keeping them apart for selfish reasons. Sure, Kagami was probably upset that he cared so much, but Marinette so clearly needed help.

"Kitty?"

Oh yeah, he was having a conversation with someone, "yeah, sorry. Even if you did like him… You said yourself… you couldn't date him, right?"

Marinette nodded, "yeah, that's right. Especially now."

Uh-oh, "especially now?"  
Marinette rubbed her lips together, "yeah, I mean, he's my friend's ex-boyfriend."

W-was that all he was now? Someone one of her friends used to date? He ground his teeth. He hadn't _known_. If he'd known he would have chosen her, every time. He was suddenly angry at everyone; Alya, Nino, Kagami, even Marinette. If it had been his choice, he would have chosen her. _Had _it been his choice? It seemed that everyone had pushed him and Kagami together, even Marinette. He loved her. He loved Marinette. He knew that was true. So, she wasn't going to date Adrien because he'd dated a friend? No, no, Marinette told him that she couldn't date her prince because people could get hurt. Was she talking about Kagami? Had he'd entered a losing situation without even realizing it?

"Wow, did we stay up too late last night? You seem really out of it, kitty."

Chat Noir rubbed his lips together, "so, what are you going to so, now that your prince is single again?" He hadn't meant for so much anger to leak into his words, but it was there nonetheless,

Marinette's eyes widened at the sudden change in mood, "u-um. I'm not sure. I mean he's my friend, and there were other reasons it wouldn't work out between us, so I guess this just adds to those?"

Her voice went up a few octaves towards the end of her sentence. Her reply made Chat think, dispelling some of his anger,

"like the reasons you told me before?"

Marinette nodded, "yeah. And I mean, I never told him I liked him, and he seemed so happy with Kagami, even when they were just friends… I didn't want to ruin that."

Oh… Marinette had given him up, because she thought he was happier with Kagami? That… made a lot more sense. Had she always cared about his happiness like this? He thought back, yeah. I mean she'd gone ice-skating with he and Kagami just to make him more comfortable… had she loved him then? Had she helped him get a date with another girl while she loved him? He spoke his next words without thinking,

"you really care about his happiness, huh?"

Marinette nodded, "he has a hard life. He's so kind, but I rarely see him happy. I remember one of his birthdays, I snuck him a gift, but I forgot to sign it. I guess it got all mixed up with his other gifts because the next day he'd thought his father made it for him. He was so happy. It was oe of the most genuine smiles I'd ever seen from him. I didn't have the heart to tell him I made it. He still thinks his father made it to this day, but his smile is so wide every time he wears it… I can't take that away from him… and I wasn't going to risk his happiness with Kagami just because I liked him."

Chat's eyebrow knitted together. That blue scarf was from her? It had been the only outlier of his birthday gifts, the rest had been pens and fashion books, gifts that were so… Gabriel… but that scarf… his eyes widened… that warmth… that classic Marinette warmth. He'd felt it in the scarf, hell, it'd smelled like her. How could it have taken him this long to figure it out? Why didn't she just tell him? He'd been holding on to that scarf because he'd thought it meant there was hope for his father. But no, his father had just stolen it from Marinette. And she'd let him hold onto that hope because it'd made him happy.

He'd never wanted to touch her more than he did now. He'd never wanted to hold her this much… to kiss her. He couldn't… could he? I mean she still had to love him… _Adrien_ right? Shit, what would it look like to her if Chat Noir kissed her… not good, right?

"I-I'm sorry if I made you mad, Chat Noir. I promise I didn't mean to."

What? "No! No, Princess. I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you at all. I… I feel bad for your situation. And for your prince. He's really… he's really unlucky."

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "unlucky?"

"He doesn't get to call you his."

Marinette blushed a deep shade of red. Chat Noir was saying this to her? Handsome, clever Chat Noir thought Adrien was unlucky because he didn't have her? No. That was too much. That was too good to be true. Hell, this whole experience was too good to be true. Chat Noir staying up late with her, holding her, bringing her ice-cream, watching movies with her, Chat Noir _caring_ about her.

Marinette let out a biting laugh, "he's doing just fine, kitty. Don't worry about him."

Marinette's heart leapt in her chest when Chat Noir put his hands on her cheeks, "I seriously doubt that, Princess. He has to know how unlucky he is. And that's coming from a black cat."

Marinette could barely form words, "B-black cats aren't unlucky, kitty, remember?"

He stared at her with such sadness in his eyes, Marinette couldn't help but put her hand over his and lean into his palm.

His breath left him, and he spoke as he felt her nuzzling into his hand, "I may start believing you."

She let out a breathy laugh onto his fingers, "good."

He moved his hand to her chin. He couldn't, could he? He should just stop now, right? He was Chat Noir, not Adrien, and she was a civilian. If he wanted to pursue her, he'd need to do it as Adrien, right? No… no, he couldn't have her as Adrien, hadn't she said that much? He had to know… if he couldn't he had to know right now,

"are you ever going to be his Princess?"

Marinette put a hand to his cheek, her breath stuck in her chest, "I-I don't think so, kitty."

He descended onto her without a moment's hesitation. Without allowing her any time to second guess. Any time to over think. Any time to worry. It was incredible. The spark and the tension that had been growing between them exploded as she put her hands into his hair.

They parted for a breath for just a moment before their lips met again. Thoughts sped up, and Marinette's mind began working again. She rested her forehead against his,

"we-we can't be doing this?"

Chat put his hand on the back of her neck, his breath tickling her lips, "why?"

_ Why? I'm your guardian. I've seen you as Chat Blanc. I'm putting you at risk. I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with you and I'm going to stuff you so full of sweets your staff won't life you up anymore. I'm Ladybug and you Chat Noir, I've been fighting this for years! I was just talking about the person I used to love and you kissed me, you masochistic cat! Take your pick! I can list about a hundred more. I cannot believe we're doing-_

"It's dangerous."

His claws rubbed gently against her scalp, fighting the urge to pull her back in, "dangerous? Hawkmoth?"

Marinette nodded, fighting not to kiss him again, "yeah, sure, Hawkmoth. He could find you here."

Chat purred against her forehead, "well, I'm sure not going to tell him."

"N-neither am I, but what if he finds out… or…"

He stopped rubbing her scalp, "do you actually not want to kiss me? I'll stop if you-"

Marinette shook her head keeping her forehead against his.

"are you just looking for excuses?"

She nodded quickly, looking at his lips.

"Do you actually think this is dangerous?"

She nodded again.

"Talk to me."

"What if you get hurt?"

Chat brought her closer, "what if _you_ get hurt?"  
She gave him a confused look, "what?"

He smirked at her, "I'm a superhero, I'm indestructible, remember? You on the other hand-" He brought her injured arm up and kissed it, "are very destructible."

"You cocky cat, this was an accident and you are not indestructible."

"If it makes you kiss me again, I'll be indestructible."

Marinette considered him. She wanted to. She really wanted to. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a smiling Tikki. Oh, great so she approved… Marinette bit her lip, "no Achilles heel?"

"not on these paws."

"Completely indestructible?" She leaned forward again.

"Skin of steel." She could feel his breath on her face.

She met his lips again.


End file.
